1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
4 [](#readme)
6 [](#installation "Installation")
7 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 []
(https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [](LICENSE "License")
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20 yt-dlp is a
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
33 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
50 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
52 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
54 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
56 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
60 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
62 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
64 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
65 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
66 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
67 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
68 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
69 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
70 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
71 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
72 * [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
73 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
74 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
79 * Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12
.17+
[commit/2dd6c6e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/2dd6c6e)** (
[exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc v2020.11
.11-
3+
[commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
81 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
83 * **[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))
85 * **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 NicoNico livestreams are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
87 * **YouTube improvements**:
88 * Supports Clips, Stories (
`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, and Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`,
`:ytnotif`)
89 * Fix for
[n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
90 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
91 * Download livestreams from the start using
`--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
92 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
93 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
95 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
97 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using
`--download-sections`
99 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
101 * **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
103 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
105 * **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
107 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
109 * **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
111 * **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`)
113 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
115 * **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`
117 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as
`--alias`,
`--print`,
`--concat-playlist`,
`--wait-for-video`,
`--retry-sleep`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-match-filter` etc
119 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--format`/
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple
`--config-locations`,
`--exec` at different stages, etc
121 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
123 * **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using
`--update-to` if required
125 * **Nightly builds**: [Automated nightly builds](#update-channels) can be used with
`--update-to nightly`
127 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
129 Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
131 ### Differences in default behavior
133 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
135 * yt-dlp supports only
[Python 3.7+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while
[youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
136 * The options
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
137 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
138 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
139 * 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`
140 * 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
141 * The default format selector is
`bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
142 * 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
143 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
144 * 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
145 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-info-json`. Use
`--no-embed-info-json` or
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
146 * Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using
`--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably,
`comment` field contains the
`webpage_url` and
`synopsis` contains the
`description`. You can [use
`--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use
`--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
147 * `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
148 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
149 * Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use
`--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use
`--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
150 * YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. If the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also,
`/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use
`--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
151 * Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
152 * The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC
[when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
153 * 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
154 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
155 * 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
156 * When
`--embed-subs` and
`--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just
`--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See
[#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info.
`--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
157 * `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use
`--compat-options no-certifi`
158 * yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use
`--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
159 * yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented:
[~~aria2c~~](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use
`--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is
161 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
163 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
164 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
165 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
166 * `--compat-options 2021`: Same as
`--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
167 * `--compat-options 2022`: Same as
`--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress`. Use this to enable all future compat options
172 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
173 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
174 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
175 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
176 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
177 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
178 [](#release-files)
179 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
180 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
182 You can install yt-dlp using
[the binaries](#release-files), [pip](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See
[the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
186 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
188 If you
[installed with pip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
190 For other third-party package managers, see
[the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
192 <a id="update-channels"/>
194 There are currently two release channels for binaries,
`stable` and
`nightly`.
195 `stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the nightly channel.
196 The
`nightly` channel has releases built after each push to the master branch, and will have the most recent fixes and additions, but also have more risk of regressions. They are available in
[their own repo](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases).
198 When using
`--update`/
`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
199 This release channel can be changed by using the
`--update-to` option.
`--update-to` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
202 * `yt-dlp --update-to nightly` change to
`nightly` channel and update to its latest release
203 * `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.02.17` upgrade/downgrade to release to
`stable` channel tag
`2023.02.17`
204 * `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.01.06` upgrade/downgrade to tag
`2023.01.06` if it exists on the current channel
206 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
213 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent
[zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
214 [yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
215 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (
10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
221 [yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (
32-bit) binary
222 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with
`py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
223 [yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
224 [yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
225 [yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (
32-bit) binary
226 [yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (
64-bit) binary
227 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
228 [yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (
10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
229 [yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (
10.9+) standalone x64 executable
235 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
236 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
237 [SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
238 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
239 [SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
241 The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is
[available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
244 curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
245 gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
246 gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
248 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
250 **Note**: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available inside the
[source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
253 Python versions
3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
255 <!-- Python
3.5+ uses VC++
14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
256 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 --x>
257 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.
260 While all the other dependencies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
262 ### Strongly recommended
264 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
266 There are bugs in ffmpeg that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide
[custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for some of these issues at
[yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See
[the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
268 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT**
[the python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
271 * [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under
[MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
272 * [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or
[**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) -
[Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>
[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
273 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
277 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For
`--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
278 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For
`--embed-thumbnail` in
`mp4`/
`m4a` files when
`mutagen`/
`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
279 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr),
[**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or
[**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (
`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under
[MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt),
[LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and
[GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
283 * [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-
128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under
[BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
284 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
285 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For
`--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
286 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
290 * [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License
[depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
291 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated**
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
292 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with
`--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
293 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp`/
`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with
`--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
295 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
297 The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
299 If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the
`--verbose` output
304 ### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
305 To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and
`pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run
`pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (x86/ARM,
32/
64 bit) as the Python used.
307 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
308 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
311 On some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`.
313 `pyinst.py` accepts any arguments that can be passed to
`pyinstaller`, such as
`--onefile/-F` or
`--onedir/-D`, which is further
[documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
315 **Note**: Pyinstaller versions below
4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
317 **Important**: Running
`pyinstaller` directly **without** using
`pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
319 ### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
320 You will need the build tools
`python` (
3.7+),
`zip`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`\* and
`pytest`\*.
322 After installing these, simply run
`make`.
324 You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
326 ### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
328 While we provide the option to build with
[py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain
`pycryptodomex`/
`certifi` and needs VC++
14** on the target computer to run.
330 If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run
`setup.py py2exe`
332 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
333 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
338 * **
`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current date.
339 * **
`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
340 * **
`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update
`CONTRIBUTORS` file.
341 * **
`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable
`YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
343 Note: See their
`--help` for more info.
345 ### Forking the project
346 If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
350 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
351 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
353 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
354 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
356 <!-- Auto generated -->
358 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
359 --version Print program version and exit
360 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
361 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
362 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
363 CHANNEL and TAG defaults to "stable" and
364 "latest" respectively if omitted; See
365 "UPDATE" for details. Supported channels:
367 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
368 The download will be considered successful
369 even if the postprocessing fails
370 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
371 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
373 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
374 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
375 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
376 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
377 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
379 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
380 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
381 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
382 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
383 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
384 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
385 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
386 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
387 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
388 google videos for the search term "python".
389 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
390 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
391 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
392 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
393 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
394 possible instead of searching
395 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
396 except those given by --config-locations.
397 For backward compatibility, if this option
398 is found inside the system configuration
399 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
401 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
402 (default). When given inside a configuration
403 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
404 defined in the current file
405 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
406 either the path to the config or its
407 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
408 used multiple times and inside other
410 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
412 --no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
414 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
415 Currently only supported for YouTube
417 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
419 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
420 available. Pass the minimum number of
421 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
422 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
423 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
424 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
425 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
427 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
428 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
429 configurations by reverting some of the
430 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
431 default behavior" for details
432 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
433 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
434 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
435 according to the Python string formatting
436 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
437 "-S=aext:{
0},abr -x --audio-format {
0}"
438 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
439 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
440 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
441 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
442 output. Alias options can trigger more
443 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
444 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
445 alias may be triggered a maximum of
100
446 times. This option can be used multiple times
449 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
450 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
451 e.g. socks5://user:pass@
127.0.0.1:
1080/.
452 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
454 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
455 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
456 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
457 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
458 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
459 default for security reasons.
462 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
463 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
464 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
465 is not present) is used for the actual
467 --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
468 try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
469 "default" (only when known to be useful),
470 "never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
471 two-letter ISO
3166-
2 country code
474 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
475 to download. You can specify a range using
476 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
477 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
478 Use negative indices to count from the right
479 and negative STEP to download in reverse
480 order. E.g. "-I
1:
3,
7,-
5::
2" used on a
481 playlist of size
15 will download the items
482 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
11,
13,
15
483 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
484 SIZE, e.g.
50k or
44.6M
485 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
486 SIZE, e.g.
50k or
44.6M
487 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
488 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
489 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
490 E.g. "--date today-
2weeks" downloads only
491 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
492 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
493 this date. The date formats accepted is the
495 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
496 this date. The date formats accepted is the
498 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
499 field can be compared with a number or a
500 string using the operators defined in
501 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
502 specify a field to match if the field is
503 present, use "!field" to check if the field
504 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
505 conditions. Use a "
\" to escape "&" or
506 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
507 the filter matches if atleast one of the
508 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
509 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?
100 &
510 description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'" matches
511 only videos that are not live OR those that
512 have a like count more than
100 (or the like
513 field is not available) and also has a
514 description that contains the phrase "cats &
515 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
516 interactively ask whether to download each
518 --no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filter (default)
519 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
520 download process when a video is rejected
521 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
522 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
523 to a video and a playlist
524 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
525 a video and a playlist
526 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
528 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
529 archive file. Record the IDs of all
530 downloaded videos in it
531 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
532 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
533 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
534 a file that is in the archive
535 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
536 --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
538 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
539 terminates the entire download queue
540 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
541 the playlist is skipped
544 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
545 video that should be downloaded concurrently
547 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
549 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
550 below which throttling is assumed and the
551 video data is re-extracted, e.g.
100K
552 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
554 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
555 error (default is
3), or "infinite"
556 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
557 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
558 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
559 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
560 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
561 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
562 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=
1]] or
563 exp=START[:END[:BASE=
2]]. This option can be
564 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
565 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
566 linear=
1::
2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=
1:
20
567 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
568 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
569 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
570 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
571 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
572 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
573 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
574 downloading is finished
575 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
576 downloading is finished (default)
577 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g.
1024 or
16K
579 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
580 from an initial value of --buffer-size
582 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
583 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
584 downloading, e.g.
10485760 or
10M (default
585 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
586 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
588 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
589 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
590 received. This disables n_entries,
591 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
592 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
593 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
594 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
596 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
597 allowing some players to play the video
598 while downloading, and reducing the chance
599 of file corruption if download is
600 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
602 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
603 videos. This is default when not downloading
605 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
606 the given regular expression. Time ranges
607 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
608 of chapters to download the specified range.
609 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
610 multiple times to download multiple
611 sections, e.g. --download-sections
612 "*
10:
15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
613 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
614 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
615 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
616 use it for. Currently supports native,
617 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
618 wget. You can use this option multiple times
619 to set different downloaders for different
620 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
621 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
622 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
623 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
624 (Alias: --external-downloader)
625 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
626 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
627 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
628 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
629 positions using the same syntax as
630 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
631 option multiple times to give different
632 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
633 --external-downloader-args)
635 ## Filesystem Options:
636 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
637 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
638 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
640 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
641 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
642 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
643 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
644 TYPES as --output are supported.
645 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
646 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
647 files are first downloaded to the temp path
648 and then the final files are moved over to
649 the home path after download is finished.
650 This option is ignored if --output is an
652 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
653 TEMPLATE" for details
654 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
655 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
656 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
657 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
658 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
660 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
661 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
662 using Windows (default)
663 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
664 extension) to the specified number of
666 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
667 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
668 option includes --no-continue
669 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
670 related files (default)
671 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
673 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
674 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
675 restart download of the entire file
676 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
677 into output file (default)
678 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
680 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
681 modification time (default)
682 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
683 the file modification time
684 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
685 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
686 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
687 (this may contain personal information)
688 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
689 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
690 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
691 --write-description etc. (default)
692 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
693 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
694 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
695 from the infojson. Note that it could still
696 contain some personal information (default)
697 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
698 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
699 infojson. The comments are fetched even
700 without this option if the extraction is
701 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
702 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
703 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
705 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
706 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
707 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
708 and dump cookie jar in
709 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
711 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
712 The name of the browser to load cookies
713 from. Currently supported browsers are:
714 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
715 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
716 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
717 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
718 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
719 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
720 be given with their respective seperators.
721 By default, all containers of the most
722 recently accessed profile are used.
723 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
724 gnomekeyring, kwallet
725 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
726 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
727 store some downloaded information (such as
728 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
729 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
730 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
731 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
733 ## Thumbnail Options:
734 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
735 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
736 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
737 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
738 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
740 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
741 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
742 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
743 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
744 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
745 OS caches the URL based on the file path
746 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
747 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
749 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
750 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
751 print the log to stderr
752 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
753 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
754 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
756 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
758 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
759 extracting metadata even if the videos are
760 not actually available for download
762 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
763 formats are found (default)
764 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
765 related files (Alias: --no-download)
766 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
767 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
768 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
769 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
770 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
771 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
772 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
773 used. This option can be used multiple times
774 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
775 Append given template to the file. The
776 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
777 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
778 output template. This option can be used
780 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
781 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
782 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
783 description of available keys
784 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
785 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
786 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
787 a playlist, the whole playlist information
788 is dumped in a single line
789 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
790 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
791 another simulation option is used (Alias:
792 --force-download-archive)
793 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
794 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
795 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
796 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
797 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
798 Template for progress outputs, optionally
799 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
800 "download-title:" (the console title),
801 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
802 The video's fields are accessible under the
803 "info" key and the progress attributes are
804 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
805 --console-title --progress-template
806 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
807 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
808 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
809 to debug problems (very verbose)
810 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
811 in the current directory to debug problems
812 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
815 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
816 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
817 that do not support RFC
5746 secure
819 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
820 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
821 information about the video (Currently
822 supported only for YouTube)
823 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
824 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
825 option multiple times
826 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
827 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
828 or fribidi executable in PATH
829 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
830 during data extraction
831 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
832 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
833 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
834 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
835 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
836 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
837 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
840 ## Video Format Options:
841 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
843 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
844 "Sorting Formats" for more details
845 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
846 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
847 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
848 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
849 specified sort order (default)
850 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
852 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
853 output file (default)
854 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
856 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
857 output file (default)
858 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
859 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
860 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
861 irrespective of quality
862 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
864 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
865 those that are actually downloadable
866 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
867 actually downloadable
868 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
870 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
871 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
872 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
873 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
874 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
875 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
878 --write-subs Write subtitle file
879 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
880 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
881 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
882 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
883 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
884 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
885 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
886 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
887 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
888 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
889 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
890 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
891 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
892 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
893 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
894 of available language tags
896 ## Authentication Options:
897 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
898 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
899 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
900 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
901 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
902 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
903 either the path or its containing directory.
905 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
906 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
907 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
908 a list of available MSOs
909 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
910 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
911 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
913 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
914 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
915 format. May include the private key
916 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
917 Path to private key file for client
919 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
920 Password for client certificate private key,
921 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
922 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
924 ## Post-Processing Options:
925 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
926 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
927 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
928 used. (currently supported: best (default),
929 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
930 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
931 similar syntax as --remux-video
932 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
933 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
934 between
0 (best) and
10 (worst) for VBR or a
935 specific bitrate like
128K (default
5)
936 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
937 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
938 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
939 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
940 wav). If target container does not support
941 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
942 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
943 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
944 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
945 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
946 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
947 are the same as --remux-video
948 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
949 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
950 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
951 to give the argument to the specified
952 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
953 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
954 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
955 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
956 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
957 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
958 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
959 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
960 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
961 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
962 specified executable only when being used by
963 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
964 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
965 appended to the prefix optionally followed
966 by a number to pass the argument before the
967 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
968 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
969 this option multiple times to give different
970 arguments to different postprocessors.
972 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
973 after post-processing
974 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
975 post-processing (default)
976 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
977 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
978 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
980 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
981 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
982 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
983 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
984 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
985 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
986 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
987 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
988 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
989 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
990 (Alias: --add-chapters)
991 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
993 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
995 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
997 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
998 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
999 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
1000 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
1001 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1002 (default: pre_process)
1003 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
1004 Replace text in a metadata field using the
1005 given regex. This option can be used
1006 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
1007 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1008 (default: pre_process)
1009 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
1010 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
1011 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
1012 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
1013 (default; only when the videos form a single
1014 show). All the video files must have same
1015 codecs and number of streams to be
1016 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
1017 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1018 the output filename for the concatenated
1019 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1020 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
1021 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
1022 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
1023 default; fix file if we can, warn
1024 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
1026 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
1027 path to the binary or its containing directory
1028 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
1029 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
1030 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
1031 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
1032 after_move). Same syntax as the output
1033 template can be used to pass any field as
1034 arguments to the command. After download, an
1035 additional field "filepath" that contains
1036 the final path of the downloaded file is
1037 also available, and if no fields are passed,
1038 %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended to the
1039 end of the command. This option can be used
1041 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1042 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
1043 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
1044 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1045 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
1046 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1047 can specify multiple rules using similar
1048 syntax as --remux-video
1049 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1050 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1051 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1052 the output filename for the split files. See
1053 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1054 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
1055 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1056 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1057 same as --download-sections. This option can
1058 be used multiple times
1059 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1061 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1062 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1063 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1064 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1066 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1067 when cutting/splitting (default)
1068 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1069 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1070 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1071 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1072 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1073 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1074 The "when" argument determines when the
1075 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1076 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1077 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1078 "video" (after --format; before
1079 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1080 video download), "post_process" (after each
1081 video download; default), "after_move"
1082 (after moving video file to it's final
1083 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1084 and processing all formats of a video), or
1085 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1086 can be used multiple times to add different
1089 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1090 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1091 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1092 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1094 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1095 for, separated by commas. Available
1096 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1097 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1098 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1099 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1100 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [
1]
1101 for description of the categories. E.g.
1102 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1103 [
1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1104 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1105 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1106 category is present in both mark and remove,
1107 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1108 available categories are the same as for
1109 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1110 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
1111 chapter are not available
1112 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1113 An output template for the title of the
1114 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1115 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1116 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1117 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1118 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1119 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1120 --sponsorblock-remove
1121 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1122 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1124 ## Extractor Options:
1125 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1126 (default is
3), or "infinite"
1127 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1128 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1129 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1130 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1131 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1132 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1133 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1134 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1136 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1137 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1138 can use this option multiple times to give
1139 arguments for different extractors
1143 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1145 1. **Main Configuration**:
1146 * The file given by
`--config-location`
1147 1. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1148 * If using a binary,
`yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1149 * If running from source-code,
`yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of
`yt_dlp`
1150 1. **Home Configuration**:
1151 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P`
1152 * If
`-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
1153 1. **User Configuration**:
1154 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1155 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1156 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1157 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
1158 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1159 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1161 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1162 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1163 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
1165 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
1166 1. **System Configuration**:
1167 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1168 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1169 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1171 E.g. with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
1173 # Lines starting with # are comments
1175 # Always extract audio
1178 # Do not copy the mtime
1182 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1184 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1185 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1188 **Note**: Options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after
`-` or
`--`, e.g.
`-o` or
`--proxy` but not
`- o` or
`-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
1190 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If
`--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
1192 ### Configuration file encoding
1194 The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
1196 If you want your file to be decoded differently, add
`# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g.
`# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
1198 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1200 You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with
`--username` and
`--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a
[`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per-extractor basis. For that you will need to create a
`.netrc` file in
`--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
1202 touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1203 chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
1205 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1207 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1211 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1212 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1214 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1216 The default location of the .netrc file is
`~` (see below).
1218 ### Notes about environment variables
1219 * Environment variables are normally specified as
`${VARIABLE}`/
`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and
`%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as
`${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1220 * yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g.
`--output`,
`--config-location`
1221 * If unset,
`${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to
`~/.config` and
`${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to
`~/.cache`
1222 * On Windows,
`~` points to
`${HOME}` if present; or,
`${USERPROFILE}` or
`${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1223 * On Windows,
`${USERPROFILE}` generally points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` and
`${APPDATA}` to
`${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
1227 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.
1229 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1230 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1231 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1233 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).
1235 It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g.
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1237 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1239 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot
`.` separator; e.g.
`%(tags.0)s`,
`%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon
`:`; E.g.
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`,
`%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces
`{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g.
`%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name
`%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g.
`%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
1241 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using
`+` and
`-` respectively. E.g.
`%(playlist_index+10)03d`,
`%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1243 1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to
[strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a
`>`. E.g.
`%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`,
`%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`,
`%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1245 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a
`,`. E.g.
`%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1247 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a
`&` separator according to the
[`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty. E.g.
`%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`,
`%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
1249 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` separator. This overrides
`--output-na-placeholder`. E.g.
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1251 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to
`B` = **B**ytes,
`j` = **j**son (flag
`#` for pretty-printing,
`+` for Unicode),
`h` = HTML escaping,
`l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag
`#` for
`\n` newline-separated),
`q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag
`#` to split a list into different arguments),
`D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g.
10M) (flag
`#` to use
1024 as factor), and
`S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag
`#` for restricted)
1253 1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type
`U` can be used for NFC
[Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (
`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag
`+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g.
`%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1255 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1257 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1260 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon
`:`. The different file types supported are
`subtitle`,
`thumbnail`,
`description`,
`annotation` (deprecated),
`infojson`,
`link`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`,
`pl_video`. E.g.
`-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g.
`--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1262 <a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"/>
1264 **Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use
`--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
1266 The available fields are:
1268 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1269 - `title` (string): Video title
1270 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1271 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1272 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1273 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1274 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1275 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1276 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1277 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1278 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1279 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1280 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1281 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1282 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1283 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1284 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1285 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1286 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1287 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1288 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1289 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1290 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1291 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1292 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
1293 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1294 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1295 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1296 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1297 - `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)
1298 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1299 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
1300 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1301 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1302 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1303 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1304 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1305 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1306 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1307 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1308 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1309 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1310 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1311 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1312 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1313 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1314 - `playlist` (string):
`playlist_id` or
`playlist_title`
1315 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1316 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1317 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1318 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1319 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1320 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1321 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1322 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1323 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1325 All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
1327 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1329 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1330 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1331 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1333 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1335 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1336 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1337 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1338 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1339 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1340 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1341 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1343 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1345 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1346 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1347 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1348 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1349 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1350 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1351 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1352 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1353 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1354 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1356 Available only when using
`--download-sections` and for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1358 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1359 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1360 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1361 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1363 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1365 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1366 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
1367 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by
`--list-formats`
1368 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by
`--list-thumbnails`
1369 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1370 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1373 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1375 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1376 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1377 - `categories` (list): The
[SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
1378 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1379 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1380 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1381 - `type` (string): The
[SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
1383 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`yt-dlp test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a
`yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1385 **Note**: 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).
1387 **Tip**: Look at the
`-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1389 For numeric sequences you can use
[numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g.
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
1391 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.
1393 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1395 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1397 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.
1399 #### Output template examples
1402 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1403 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1405 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1406 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1408 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1409 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1411 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1412 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1414 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1415 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1417 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1418 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1420 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1421 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1423 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1424 $ 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"
1426 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1427 $ 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"
1429 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1430 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1431 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1433 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1434 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1436 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1437 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1442 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1443 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`.
1445 **Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to
`-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the
`-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
1447 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.
1449 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1450 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1451 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1453 The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. with
`-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to
22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using
`--list-formats` or
`-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
1455 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.
1457 You can use
`-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1459 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1461 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1462 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1463 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie;
`vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
1464 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1465 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1466 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1467 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1468 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
1469 - `w*
`, `worst*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1470 - `w
`, `worst
`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]
`
1471 - `wv
`, `worstvideo
`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]
`
1472 - `wv*
`, `worstvideo*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]
`
1473 - `wa
`, `worstaudio
`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]
`
1474 - `wa*
`, `worstaudio*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]
`
1476 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo
`. It is however recommended not to use `worst
` and related options. When your format selector is `worst
`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size
` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps
` instead of `-f worst
`. See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1478 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.
1480 If you want to download multiple videos, and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred; e.g. `-f
22/
17/
18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
1482 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
`.
1484 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...
` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio
` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1486 **Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1488 Unless `--video-multistreams
` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams
` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams
` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams
` will download and merge only `bestvideo
` and `bestaudio
`. `best
` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo
`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams
` will download only `best
` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams
` will ignore `best
` and download only `bestaudio
`.
1490 ## Filtering Formats
1492 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=
720]"
` (or `-f "[filesize>
10M]"
`).
1494 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<
`, `<=
`, `>
`, `>=
`, `=
` (equals), `!=
` (not equals):
1496 - `filesize
`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1497 - `filesize_approx
`: An estimate for the number of bytes
1498 - `width
`: Width of the video, if known
1499 - `height
`: Height of the video, if known
1500 - `aspect_ratio
`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
1501 - `tbr
`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1502 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1503 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1504 - `asr
`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1506 - `audio_channels
`: The number of audio channels
1507 - `stretched_ratio
`: `width:height
` of the video's pixels, if not square
1509 Also filtering work for comparisons `=
` (equals), `^=
` (starts with), `$=
` (ends with), `*=
` (contains), `~=
` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1512 - `ext
`: File extension
1513 - `acodec
`: Name of the audio codec in use
1514 - `vcodec
`: Name of the video codec in use
1515 - `container
`: Name of the container format
1516 - `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
`)
1517 - `language
`: Language code
1518 - `dynamic_range
`: The dynamic range of the video
1519 - `format_id
`: A short description of the format
1520 - `format
`: A human-readable description of the format
1521 - `format_note
`: Additional info about the format
1522 - `resolution
`: Textual description of width and height
1524 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!
` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=
` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-
`.
1526 **Note**: 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.
1528 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?
`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?
720][tbr>
500]"
` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all
` to download all formats that satisfy the filter, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"
` selects all audio-only formats.
1530 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<
480]"
` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
1534 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...
`.
1536 The available fields are:
1538 - `hasvid
`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1539 - `hasaud
`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
1540 - `ie_pref
`: The format preference
1541 - `lang
`: The language preference
1542 - `quality
`: The quality of the format
1543 - `source
`: The preference of the source
1544 - `proto
`: Protocol used for download (`https
`/`ftps
` > `http
`/`ftp
` > `m3u8_native
`/`m3u8
` > `http_dash_segments
`> `websocket_frag
` > `mms
`/`rtsp
` > `f4f
`/`f4m
`)
1545 - `vcodec
`: Video Codec (`av01
` > `vp9.2
` > `vp9
` > `h265
` > `h264
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` > other)
1546 - `acodec
`: Audio Codec (`flac
`/`alac
` > `wav
`/`aiff
` > `opus
` > `vorbis
` > `aac
` > `mp4a
` > `mp3
` > `ac4
` > `eac3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
` > other)
1547 - `codec
`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec
`
1548 - `vext
`: Video Extension (`mp4
` > `mov
` > `webm
` > `flv
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, `webm
` is preferred.
1549 - `aext
`: Audio Extension (`m4a
` > `aac
` > `mp3
` > `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, the order changes to `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > `mp3
` > `m4a
` > `aac
`
1550 - `ext
`: Equivalent to `vext,aext
`
1551 - `filesize
`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1552 - `fs_approx
`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1553 - `size
`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1554 - `height
`: Height of video
1555 - `width
`: Width of video
1556 - `res
`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1557 - `fps
`: Framerate of video
1558 - `hdr
`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV
` > `HDR12
` > `HDR10+
` > `HDR10
` > `HLG
` > `SDR
`)
1559 - `channels
`: The number of audio channels
1560 - `tbr
`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1561 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1562 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1563 - `br
`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr
`
1564 - `asr
`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1566 **Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
1568 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+
`. E.g. `+res
` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:
`. E.g. `res:
720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec
` and `ext
`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. E.g. `+codec:avc:m4a
` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a
`) sets the video codec preference to `h264
` > `h265
` > `vp9
` > `vp9.2
` > `av01
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` and audio codec preference to `mp4a
` > `aac
` > `vorbis
` > `opus
` > `mp3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~
` as the delimiter. E.g. `filesize~
1G
` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1570 The fields `hasvid
` and `ie_pref
` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force
`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:
12,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id
`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1572 Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2
`; i.e. `av1
` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:
12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1574 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
`.
1576 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F
` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1578 ## Format Selection examples
1581 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1582 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1583 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1585 # Download best format that contains video,
1586 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1587 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1592 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1593 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1594 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1595 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1597 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1598 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1599 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1601 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1602 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1603 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1606 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1607 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1609 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1610 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1612 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1615 # Download the smallest video available
1616 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1620 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1621 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1623 # Download the best video with the best extension
1624 # (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1629 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1630 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1631 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1633 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1634 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1635 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1637 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1638 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1639 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1640 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1641 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1645 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1646 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1647 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1649 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1650 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1651 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1653 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1654 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1658 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1659 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1660 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1662 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1663 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1668 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1669 # or the best video if there is no such video
1670 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1672 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1673 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1674 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1676 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1677 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1678 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1682 # More complex examples
1684 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1685 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1686 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1688 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1689 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1690 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1691 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1695 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1696 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1697 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1698 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1701 # MODIFYING METADATA
1703 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata
` and `--replace-in-metadata
`
1705 `--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.
1707 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO
` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, 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.
1709 Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata
`.
1711 This option also has a few special uses:
1713 * You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls
` to the URL that you want to download. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)"
` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1715 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_
` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description
` field will be added to the `description
` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_
` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language
`). Any value set to the `meta_
` field will overwrite all default values.
1717 **Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1719 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1721 Metadata fields | From
1722 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1723 `title
` | `track
` or `title
`
1724 `date
` | `upload_date
`
1725 `description
`, `synopsis
` | `description
`
1726 `purl
`, `comment
` | `webpage_url
`
1727 `track
` | `track_number
`
1728 `artist
` | `artist
`, `creator
`, `uploader
` or `uploader_id
`
1731 `album_artist
` | `album_artist
`
1732 `disc
` | `disc_number
`
1734 `season_number
` | `season_number
`
1735 `episode_id
` | `episode
` or `episode_id
`
1736 `episode_sort
` | `episode_number
`
1737 `language
` of each stream | the format's `language
`
1739 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1742 ## Modifying metadata examples
1745 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1746 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1749 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1751 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1752 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1754 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1755 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
1757 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1758 # handling multiple lines correctly
1759 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
1761 # Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1762 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1764 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1765 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1767 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1768 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1772 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1774 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS
`. `ARGS
` is a `;
` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2
`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"
`
1776 Note: In CLI, `ARG
` can use `-
` instead of `_
`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"
` becomes `youtube:player_client"
`
1778 The following extractors use this feature:
1781 * `lang
`: Prefer translated metadata (`title
`, `description
` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en
` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
1782 * `skip
`: One or more of `hls
`, `dash
` or `translated_subs
` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
1783 * `player_client
`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web
`, `android
` and `ios
` with variants `_music
`, `_embedded
`, `_embedscreen
`, `_creator
` (e.g. `web_embedded
`); and `mweb
` and `tv_embedded
` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web
` is used, but `tv_embedded
` and `creator
` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com
` urls. You can use `all
` to use all the clients, and `default
` for the default clients.
1784 * `player_skip
`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs
` (skip client configs), `webpage
` (skip initial webpage), `js
` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
1785 * `comment_sort
`: `top
` or `new
` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1786 * `max_comments
`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread
`. Default is `all,all,all,all
`
1787 * E.g. `all,all,
1000,
10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,
100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
1788 * `include_duplicate_formats
`: Extract formats with identical content but different URLs or protocol. This is useful if some of the formats are unavailable or throttled.
1789 * `include_incomplete_formats
`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1790 * `innertube_host
`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com
`, `youtubei.googleapis.com
`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
1791 * `innertube_key
`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
1793 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1794 * `skip
`: One or more of `webpage
` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck
` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
1795 * `approximate_date
`: Extract approximate `upload_date
` and `timestamp
` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1798 * `fragment_query
`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE
`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1799 * `variant_query
`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE
`
1800 * `hls_key
`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]
`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,
0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
1801 * `is_live
`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status
` - a value of `false
` will set `not_live
`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live
`
1804 * `language
`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese
`
1805 * `version
`: The video version to extract - `uncut
` or `simulcast
`
1807 #### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
1808 * `format
`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls
`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls
`, `adaptive_dash
`, `vo_adaptive_hls
`, `vo_adaptive_dash
`, `download_hls
`, `download_dash
`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2
`
1809 * `hardsub
`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all
` (default: `None
` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None
`
1812 * `video_types
`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes
`, `movies
`, `clips
`, `trailers
`
1815 * `segment_duration
`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1817 #### youtubewebarchive
1818 * `check_all
`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails
`, `captures
`
1821 * `comment_sort
`: `hot
` (default), `you
` (cookies needed), `top
`, `new
` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1824 * `res
`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd
`, `hd
`, `fhd
`
1825 * `vcodec
`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264
`, `h265
`, `dvh265
`
1826 * `dr
`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr
`, `hdr10
`, `dv
`
1829 * `api_hostname
`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com
`
1830 * `app_version
`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version
`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1831 * `manifest_app_version
`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
1834 * `tab
`: Which tab to download - one of `new
`, `top
`, `videos
`, `podcasts
`, `streams
`, `stacks
`
1837 * `legacy_api
`: Force usage of the legacy Twitter API instead of the GraphQL API for tweet extraction. Has no effect if login cookies are passed
1840 * `device_id
`: UUID value assigned by the website and used to enforce device limits for paid livestream content. Can be found in browser local storage
1842 **Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1844 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1849 Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. **Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code!**
1851 Plugins can be of `<type>
`s `extractor
` or `postprocessor
`.
1852 - Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1853 - Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1854 - Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME
`.
1857 Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor
` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor
`.
1859 In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1867 yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins
` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
1869 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1871 ## Installing Plugins
1873 Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1875 1. **Configuration directories**:
1876 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins
` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1878 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1879 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1880 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
` (recommended on Windows)
1881 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1882 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1883 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1884 * **System Plugins**
1885 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1886 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1887 2. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins
` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
1888 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe
`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1889 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py
`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
`
1891 3. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH
`**
1892 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip
`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
1893 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
1894 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH
` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins
` namespace folder.
1895 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1898 `.zip
`, `.egg
` and `.whl
` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins
` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
1899 * e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip
` where `mypluginpkg.zip
` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py
`
1901 Run yt-dlp with `--verbose
` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
1903 ## Developing Plugins
1905 See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
1907 All public classes with a name ending in `IE
`/`PP
` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors repectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE
` is private) and `__all__
`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py
`).
1909 To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name
` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')
` will replace `ABuiltInIE
` with `MyPluginIE
`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
1911 If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
1913 See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
1917 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1919 Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J
`, `--print
`, `--progress-template
`, `--exec
` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
1921 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1924 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1926 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1927 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1931 Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L184).
1933 **Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info
` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info
` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
1935 ## Embedding examples
1937 #### Extracting information
1943 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1945 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1947 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1948 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1950 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1951 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1953 #### Download using an info-json
1958 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1960 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1961 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1963 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1964 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1972 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1975 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1976 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1977 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1978 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1979 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1983 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1984 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1992 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1994 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1995 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1996 duration = info.get('duration')
1997 if duration and duration < 60:
1998 return 'The video is too short'
2001 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2004 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2005 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2008 #### Adding logger and progress hook
2013 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2016 def debug(self, msg):
2017 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
2018 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2019 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2024 def info(self, msg):
2027 def warning(self, msg):
2030 def error(self, msg):
2034 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2036 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2037 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2041 'logger': MyLogger(),
2042 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2045 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2049 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
2054 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2056 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
2057 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
2058 def run(self, info):
2059 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2063 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
2064 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2065 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
2070 #### Use a custom format selector
2075 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2077 def format_selector(ctx):
2078 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
2079 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
2081 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2082 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2084 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2085 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2086 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2088 # find compatible audio extension
2089 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2090 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2091 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2092 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2094 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
2096 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2097 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2098 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
2099 # Must be + separated list of protocols
2100 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2105 'format': format_selector,
2108 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2112 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2114 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2116 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2118 #### Almost redundant options
2119 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2121 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2122 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
2123 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
2124 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2126 #### Redundant options
2127 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
2129 --get-description --print description
2130 --get-duration --print duration_string
2131 --get-filename --print filename
2132 --get-format --print format
2134 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2135 -e, --get-title --print title
2136 -g, --get-url --print urls
2137 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2138 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2139 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2140 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
2141 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
2142 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2143 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2144 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2145 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2146 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2147 --no-playlist-reverse Default
2150 #### Not recommended
2151 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2153 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
2154 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2155 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2156 --all-formats -f all
2157 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2158 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2159 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
2160 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2161 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2162 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2163 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2164 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2165 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2166 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2167 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2168 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2169 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2170 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2171 --geo-bypass --xff "default"
2172 --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
2173 --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
2174 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
2177 #### Developer options
2178 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2180 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2181 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2182 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2183 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2184 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2188 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2190 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2191 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2192 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2193 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2194 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2195 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2196 --load-info --load-info-json
2197 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2198 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2199 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2200 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2201 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2202 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2203 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2204 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2205 --write-srt --write-subs
2206 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2208 #### Sponskrub Options
2209 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock
` options
2211 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2212 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2213 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2214 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2215 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2216 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2217 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2218 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2220 #### No longer supported
2221 These options may no longer work as intended
2223 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2224 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2225 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2226 --no-call-home Default
2227 --include-ads No longer supported
2228 --no-include-ads Default
2229 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2230 --no-write-annotations Default
2231 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
2234 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2236 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2237 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2240 See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
2243 See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information
projects / yt-dlp.git / blob