4 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
7 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
10 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
11 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
12 2.6,
2.7, or
3.3+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
13 your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
14 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
17 -h, --help print this help text and exit
18 --version print program version and exit
19 -U, --update update this program to latest version. Make sure
20 that you have sufficient permissions (run with
22 -i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors, for example to to
23 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
24 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
25 playlist or the command line) if an error occurs
26 --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
27 --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
28 --referer REF specify a custom referer, use if the video access
29 is restricted to one domain
30 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they
32 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported extractors
33 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in an
34 empty string (--proxy "") for direct connection
35 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
36 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl can
37 store some downloaded information permanently. By
38 default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or ~/.cache
39 /youtube-dl . At the moment, only YouTube player
40 files (for videos with obfuscated signatures) are
41 cached, but that may change.
42 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
43 --socket-timeout None Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
44 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack bidirectional
45 text support. Requires bidiv or fribidi
49 --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is
1)
50 --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
51 --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or caseless
53 --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
55 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
56 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
58 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE (e.g.
60 --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
61 --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded on or before this
63 --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded on or after this
65 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than COUNT
67 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than COUNT
69 --no-playlist download only the currently playing video
70 --age-limit YEARS download only videos suitable for the given age
71 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the archive
72 file. Record the IDs of all downloaded videos in
76 -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second (e.g.
78 -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is
10)
79 --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
81 --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
82 default, the buffer size is automatically resized
83 from an initial value of SIZE.
85 ## Filesystem Options:
86 -t, --title use title in file name (default)
87 --id use only video ID in file name
88 -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
89 -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from
00000
90 -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to get
91 the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
92 %(uploader_id)s for the uploader nickname if
93 different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
94 incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename
95 extension, %(format)s for the format description
96 (like "
22 -
1280x720" or "HD"),%(format_id)s for
97 the unique id of the format (like Youtube's
98 itags: "
137"),%(upload_date)s for the upload date
99 (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
100 (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
101 , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
102 %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
103 playlist and %% for a literal percent. Use - to
104 output to stdout. Can also be used to download to
105 a different directory, for example with -o '/my/d
106 ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
107 --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
108 when it is present in output filename template or
109 --auto-number option is given
110 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
111 avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
112 -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
113 --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
114 (created with the "--write-json" option
115 -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
116 -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files. By
117 default, youtube-dl will resume downloads if
119 --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
121 --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
122 --no-part do not use .part files
123 --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set the
124 file modification time
125 --write-description write video description to a .description file
126 --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
127 --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation file
128 --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
130 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
131 -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
132 -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
134 --skip-download do not download the video
135 -g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
136 -e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
137 --get-id simulate, quiet but print id
138 --get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
139 --get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
140 --get-duration simulate, quiet but print video length
141 --get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
142 --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
143 -j, --dump-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information
144 --newline output progress bar as new lines
145 --no-progress do not print progress bar
146 --console-title display progress in console titlebar
147 -v, --verbose print various debugging information
148 --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
150 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files in
151 the current directory to debug problems
153 ## Video Format Options:
154 -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
155 preference using slashes: "-f
22/
17/
18". "-f mp4"
156 and "-f flv" are also supported
157 --all-formats download all available video formats
158 --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific one
160 --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
161 -F, --list-formats list all available formats (currently youtube
165 --write-sub write subtitle file
166 --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)
167 --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of the
169 --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
170 --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt] youtube
172 --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download (optional)
173 separated by commas, use IETF language tags like
176 ## Authentication Options:
177 -u, --username USERNAME account username
178 -p, --password PASSWORD account password
179 -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
180 --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo only)
182 ## Post-processing Options:
183 -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
184 ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
185 --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or
186 "wav"; best by default
187 --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert
188 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for VBR
189 or a specific bitrate like
128K (default
5)
190 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if necessary
191 (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
192 -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the post-
193 processing; the video is erased by default
194 --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-
195 processed files are overwritten by default
196 --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
198 --add-metadata write metadata to the video file
199 --xattrs write metadata to the video file's xattrs (using
200 dublin core and xdg standards)
201 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
202 postprocessors (default)
203 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
208 You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as
`--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into
`/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or
`~/.config/youtube-dl.conf`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are
`%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and
`C:\Users\<Yourname>\youtube-dl.conf`.
212 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format
`%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
214 - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
215 - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
216 - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
217 - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
218 - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
219 - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
220 - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
221 - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
222 - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
223 - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
225 The current default template is
`%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
227 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:
229 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
230 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
231 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
232 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
236 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options
`--date`,
`--datebefore` or
`--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
238 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format
`YYYYMMDD`.
239 - Relative dates: Dates in the format
`(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
243 $ # Download only the videos uploaded in the last
6 months
244 $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-
6months
245 $ # Download only the videos uploaded on January
1,
1970
246 $ youtube-dl --date
19700101
247 $ # will only download the videos uploaded in the
200x decade
248 $ youtube-dl --dateafter
20000101 --datebefore
20091231
252 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
254 Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be
1080p or
720p in some cases, so you no longer need the
`-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the
`-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
256 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
258 Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're
[considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
260 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
262 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as
[vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or
[mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
264 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
266 The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the
`--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use
`--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
268 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
270 youtube has switched to a new video info format in July
2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with
`sudo youtube-dl --update`.
272 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
274 youtube requires an additional signature since September
2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with
`sudo youtube-dl --update`.
276 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
280 File "youtube-dl", line
2
281 SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '
\x93' ...
283 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python
2.6 or
2.7.
285 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
287 Since June
2012 (#
342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to
`youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the
`__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run
`make youtube-dl`.
289 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
291 To run the exe you need to install first the
[Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
295 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
297 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
301 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues> . Unless you were prompted so or there is another pertinent reason (e.g. GitHub fails to accept the bug report), please do not send bug reports via personal email.
303 Please include the full output of the command when run with
`--verbose`. The output (including the first lines) contain important debugging information. Issues without the full output are often not reproducible and therefore do not get solved in short order, if ever.
305 For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
307 When you submit a request, please re-read it once to avoid a couple of mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist):
309 ### Is the description of the issue itself sufficient?
311 We often get issue reports that we cannot really decipher. While in most cases we eventually get the required information after asking back multiple times, this poses an unnecessary drain on our resources. Many contributors, including myself, are also not native speakers, so we may misread some parts.
313 So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you want to be fixed. Make sure that it's obvious
315 - What the problem is
316 - How it could be fixed
317 - How your proposed solution would look like
319 If your report is shorter than two lines, it is almost certainly missing some of these, which makes it hard for us to respond to it. We're often too polite to close the issue outright, but the missing info makes misinterpretation likely. As a commiter myself, I often get frustrated by these issues, since the only possible way for me to move forward on them is to ask for clarification over and over.
321 For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the -v flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
323 Site support requests must contain an example URL. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
325 ### Are you using the latest version?
327 Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. Ábout
20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
329 ### Is the issue already documented?
331 Make sure that someone has not already opened the issue you're trying to open. Search at the top of the window or at https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/search?type=Issues . If there is an issue, feel free to write something along the lines of "This affects me as well, with version
2015.01.01. Here is some more information on the issue: ...". While some issues may be old, a new post into them often spurs rapid activity.
333 ### Why are existing options not enough?
335 Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at
[the list of supported options](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#synopsis). Many feature requests are for features that actually exist already! Please, absolutely do show off your work in the issue report and detail how the existing similar options do *not* solve your problem.
337 ### Is there enough context in your bug report?
339 People want to solve problems, and often think they do us a favor by breaking down their larger problems (e.g. wanting to skip already downloaded files) to a specific request (e.g. requesting us to look whether the file exists before downloading the info page). However, what often happens is that they break down the problem into two steps: One simple, and one impossible (or extremely complicated one).
341 We are then presented with a very complicated request when the original problem could be solved far easier, e.g. by recording the downloaded video IDs in a separate file. To avoid this, you must include the greater context where it is non-obvious. In particular, every feature request that does not consist of adding support for a new site should contain a use case scenario that explains in what situation the missing feature would be useful.
343 ### Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only?
345 Some of our users seem to think there is a limit of issues they can or should open. There is no limit of issues they can or should open. While it may seem appealing to be able to dump all your issues into one ticket, that means that someone who solves one of your issues cannot mark the issue as closed. Typically, reporting a bunch of issues leads to the ticket lingering since nobody wants to attack that behemoth, until someone mercifully splits the issue into multiple ones.
347 In particular, every site support request issue should only pertain to services at one site (generally under a common domain, but always using the same backend technology). Do not request support for vimeo user videos, Whitehouse podcasts, and Google Plus pages in the same issue. Also, make sure that you don't post bug reports alongside feature requests. As a rule of thumb, a feature request does not include outputs of youtube-dl that are not immediately related to the feature at hand. Do not post reports of a network error alongside the request for a new video service.
349 ### Is anyone going to need the feature?
351 Only post features that you (or an incapicated friend you can personally talk to) require. Do not post features because they seem like a good idea. If they are really useful, they will be requested by someone who requires them.
353 ### Is your question about youtube-dl?
355 It may sound strange, but some bug reports we receive are completely unrelated to youtube-dl and relate to a different or even the reporter's own application. Please make sure that you are actually using youtube-dl. If you are using a UI for youtube-dl, report the bug to the maintainer of the actual application providing the UI. On the other hand, if your UI for youtube-dl fails in some way you believe is related to youtube-dl, by all means, go ahead and report the bug.