1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
4 [![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
6 [![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7 [![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
8 [![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 [![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 [![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
13 [![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 [![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 [![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20 yt-dlp is a
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
32 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
49 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
51 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
54 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
58 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
60 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
62 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
64 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
65 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
69 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
74 * Based on **youtube-dl
2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** (
[exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc
2020.11.11-
3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
76 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
78 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using
`-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
80 * **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from
[animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including
`--write-comments`,
`BiliBiliSearch`,
`BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
82 * **Youtube improvements**:
83 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`,
`:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
84 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
87 * Fix for
[n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded (
[except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
91 * Download livestreams from the start using
`--live-from-start` (experimental)
92 * Support for downloading stories (
`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
94 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
96 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
98 * **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use
`--concurrent-fragments` (
`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
100 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
102 * **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
104 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
106 * **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See
[commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
108 * **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using
`--paths` (
`-P`)
110 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
112 * **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of
`--parse-metadata` and
`--replace-in-metadata`
114 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as
`--concat-playlist`,
`--print`,
`--wait-for-video`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
116 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--format`/
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple
`--config-locations`,
`--exec` at different stages, etc
118 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
120 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
122 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
124 ### Differences in default behavior
126 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
128 * The options
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
129 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
130 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
131 * The default [output template](#output-template) is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to
`%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use
`--compat-options filename`
132 * The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the
`--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use
`--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
133 * The default format selector is
`bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
134 * Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of
`-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using
`--audio-multistreams` and
`--video-multistreams`. You can also use
`--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
135 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
136 * When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use
`--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or
`--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
137 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-info-json`. Use
`--no-embed-info-json` or
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
138 * Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using
`--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably,
`comment` field contains the
`webpage_url` and
`synopsis` contains the
`description`. You can [use
`--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use
`--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
139 * `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like
`--playlist-reverse` and
`--playlist-items`. See
[#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use
`--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
140 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
141 * All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use
`--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
142 * Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use
`--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use
`--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
143 * Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to
`/video`. Append a
`/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent
`UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also,
`/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use
`--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
144 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
145 * If
`ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use
`--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
146 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
147 * Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use
`--no-clean-infojson` or
`--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
148 * When
`--embed-subs` and
`--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just
`--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See
[#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info.
`--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
149 * `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use
`--compat-options no-certifi`
150 * youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use
`--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
152 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
154 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
155 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
161 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
163 ### Using the release binary
165 You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
167 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
168 [![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
169 [![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
170 [![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
171 [![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
172 [![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
173 [![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
174 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
176 Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the
[source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
178 <!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
179 In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
182 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
187 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
192 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
193 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
197 ### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
199 You can install the
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
201 python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
204 You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
206 python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
209 If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
211 python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
214 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
216 <!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
217 ### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
219 macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
222 brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
226 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
228 If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
230 If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run
`brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
232 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
239 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
240 [yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
241 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (
10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
247 [yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (
32-bit) binary
248 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with
`py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain
`pycryptodomex`/
`certifi`, needs VC++
14
249 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
250 [yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (
10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
256 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
257 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
258 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
259 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
262 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
264 <!-- Python
3.5+ uses VC++
14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
265 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 --x>
266 On windows,
[Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing
`MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
269 While all the other dependencies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
271 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
272 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
273 * [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-
128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under
[BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
274 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
275 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
276 * [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or
[**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) -
[Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>
[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
277 * [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under
[MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
278 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr),
[**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or
[**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata on Linux. Licensed under
[MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt),
[LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and
[GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
279 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
280 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
281 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
282 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
283 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated**
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
284 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
286 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
288 The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
290 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
291 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide
[custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at
[yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See
[the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
297 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using
`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run
`pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (
32/
64 bit) as the python used to build it.
299 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
300 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
303 Note that pyinstaller
[does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
306 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`pytest`
307 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
309 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
311 You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
315 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
316 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
318 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
319 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
321 <!-- Auto generated -->
323 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
324 --version Print program version and exit
325 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
326 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
327 The download will be considered successful
328 even if the postprocessing fails
329 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
330 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
332 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
333 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
334 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
335 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
336 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
338 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
340 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
341 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
342 from google videos for the search term
343 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
344 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
345 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
346 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
347 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
348 this is not possible instead of searching
349 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
350 except those given by --config-locations.
351 For backward compatibility, if this option
352 is found inside the system configuration
353 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
355 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
356 (default). When given inside a
357 configuration file, ignore all previous
358 --config-locations defined in the current
360 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
361 either the path to the config or its
362 containing directory. Can be used multiple
363 times and inside other configuration files
364 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
366 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
367 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
368 Currently only supported for YouTube
370 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
372 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
373 available. Pass the minimum number of
374 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
375 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
376 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
377 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
378 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
379 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
380 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
381 configurations by reverting some of the
382 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
383 default behavior" for details
386 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
387 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
389 socks5://user:pass@
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in
390 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
392 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
393 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
394 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
395 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
398 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
399 some geo-restricted sites. The default
400 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
401 option is not present) is used for the
403 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
404 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
405 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
406 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
407 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
408 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
410 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
411 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
415 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
416 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
417 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
418 indices of the videos in the playlist
419 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
420 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
421 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
422 specify range: "--playlist-items
423 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
424 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
425 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
426 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
427 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
429 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
430 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
431 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
432 Eg: --date today-
2weeks
433 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
434 this date. The date formats accepted is the
436 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
437 this date. The date formats accepted is the
439 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
440 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
441 number or a string using the operators
442 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
443 also simply specify a field to match if the
444 field is present, use "!field" to check if
445 the field is not present, and "&" to check
446 multiple conditions. Use a "
\" to escape
447 "&" or quotes if needed. If used multiple
448 times, the filter matches if atleast one of
449 the conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
450 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?
100 &
451 description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'"
452 matches only videos that are not live OR
453 those that have a like count more than
100
454 (or the like field is not available) and
455 also has a description that contains the
456 phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case). Use
457 "--match-filter -" to interactively ask
458 whether to download each video
459 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
460 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
461 to a video and a playlist
462 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
463 a video and a playlist
464 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
466 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
467 archive file. Record the IDs of all
468 downloaded videos in it
469 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
470 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
471 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
472 a file that is in the archive
473 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
474 a file that has been filtered out
475 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
476 reject act only on the current input URL
477 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
478 terminates the entire download queue
479 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
480 of the playlist is skipped
483 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
484 video that should be downloaded
485 concurrently (default is
1)
486 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
488 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
489 below which throttling is assumed and the
490 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
491 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
493 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
494 error (default is
3), or "infinite"
495 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
496 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
498 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
499 hlsnative and ISM (default)
500 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
501 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
502 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
503 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
504 downloading is finished
505 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
506 downloading is finished (default)
507 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
509 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
510 from an initial value of --buffer-size
512 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
513 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
514 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
515 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
516 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
518 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
519 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
521 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
522 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
524 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
525 allowing some players to play the video
526 while downloading, and reducing the chance
527 of file corruption if download is
528 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
530 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
531 videos. This is default when not
532 downloading live streams
533 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
534 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
535 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
536 use it for. Currently supports native,
537 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
538 wget. You can use this option multiple
539 times to set different downloaders for
540 different protocols. For example,
541 --downloader aria2c --downloader
542 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
543 http/ftp downloads, and the native
544 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
545 --external-downloader)
546 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
547 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
548 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
549 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
550 different positions using the same syntax
551 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
552 option multiple times to give different
553 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
554 --external-downloader-args)
556 ## Filesystem Options:
557 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
558 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
559 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
561 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
562 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
563 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
564 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
565 same TYPES as --output are supported.
566 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
567 (default) and "temp" paths. All
568 intermediary files are first downloaded to
569 the temp path and then the final files are
570 moved over to the home path after download
571 is finished. This option is ignored if
572 --output is an absolute path
573 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
574 TEMPLATE" for details
575 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
576 fields in output filename template
578 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
579 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
581 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
583 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
584 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
585 using Windows (default)
586 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
587 extension) to the specified number of
589 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
590 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
591 This option includes --no-continue
592 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
593 related files (default)
594 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
596 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
597 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
598 restart download of the entire file
599 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
600 into output file (default)
601 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
603 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
604 file modification time (default)
605 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
606 the file modification time
607 --write-description Write video description to a .description
609 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
610 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
611 (this may contain personal information)
612 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
613 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
614 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
615 --write-description etc. (default)
616 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
617 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
618 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as
619 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
620 could still contain some personal
621 information (default)
622 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
623 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
624 infojson. The comments are fetched even
625 without this option if the extraction is
626 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
627 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
628 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
630 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
631 (created with the "--write-info-json"
633 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
634 from and dump cookie jar in
635 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
637 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
638 The name of the browser and (optionally)
639 the name/path of the profile to load
640 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
641 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
642 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
643 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
644 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
645 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
646 can be (optionally) specified after the
647 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
648 supported keyrings are: basictext,
649 gnomekeyring, kwallet
650 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
651 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
652 can store some downloaded information (such
653 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
654 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
656 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
657 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
659 ## Thumbnail Options:
660 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
661 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
663 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
664 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
665 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
667 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
668 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
669 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
670 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
671 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
672 OS caches the URL based on the file path
673 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
674 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
676 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
677 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
678 --verbose, print the log to stderr
679 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
680 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
682 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
684 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
685 extracting metadata even if the videos are
686 not actually available for download
688 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
689 formats are found (default)
690 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
691 related files (Alias: --no-download)
692 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
693 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
694 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
695 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
696 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
697 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
698 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
699 used. This option can be used multiple
701 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
702 Append given template to the file. The
703 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
704 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
705 as the output template. This option can be
707 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
708 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
709 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
710 description of available keys
711 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
712 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
713 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
714 a playlist, the whole playlist information
715 is dumped in a single line
716 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
717 written as far as no errors occur, even if
718 -s or another simulation option is used
719 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
720 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
721 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
722 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
723 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
724 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
725 Template for progress outputs, optionally
726 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
727 "download-title:" (the console title),
728 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
729 The video's fields are accessible under the
730 "info" key and the progress attributes are
731 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
732 --console-title --progress-template
733 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
734 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
735 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
736 to debug problems (very verbose)
737 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
738 files in the current directory to debug
740 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
743 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
744 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
745 servers that do not support RFC
5746 secure
747 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
748 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
749 information about the video (Currently
750 supported only for YouTube)
751 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
752 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
753 option multiple times
754 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
755 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
756 or fribidi executable in PATH
757 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
758 during data extraction
759 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
760 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
761 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
762 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
763 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
764 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
765 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
768 ## Video Format Options:
769 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
771 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
772 "Sorting Formats" for more details
773 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
774 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
775 Formats" for more details
776 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
777 specified sort order (default), see
778 "Sorting Formats" for more details
779 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
781 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
782 each output file (default)
783 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
785 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
786 each output file (default)
787 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
788 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
789 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
790 containers irrespective of quality
791 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
793 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
794 those that are actually downloadable
795 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
796 actually downloadable
797 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
799 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
800 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
801 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
802 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
803 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
804 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
807 --write-subs Write subtitle file
808 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
809 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
810 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
811 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
812 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
813 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
814 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
815 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
816 preference, for example: "srt" or
818 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
819 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
820 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
821 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
822 from the requested languages. (Eg:
823 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
824 for a list of available language tags
826 ## Authentication Options:
827 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
828 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
829 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
830 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
831 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
832 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
833 either the path or its containing
834 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
835 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
836 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
837 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
838 a list of available MSOs
839 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
840 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
841 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
843 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
845 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
846 format. May include the private key
847 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE Path to private key file for client
849 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
850 Password for client certificate private
851 key, if encrypted. If not provided and the
852 key is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask
855 ## Post-Processing Options:
856 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
857 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
858 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
859 to when -x is used. Currently supported
860 formats are: best (default) or one of aac,
861 flac, mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac
862 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
863 converting the audio with -x. Insert a
864 value between
0 (best) and
10 (worst) for
865 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
867 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
868 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
869 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, aac, flac,
870 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac). If
871 target container does not support the
872 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
873 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
874 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
875 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
876 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
877 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
878 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
879 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
880 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
881 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
882 to give the argument to the specified
883 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
884 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
885 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
886 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
887 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
888 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
889 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
890 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
891 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
892 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
893 specified executable only when being used
894 by the specified postprocessor.
895 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
896 can be appended to the prefix optionally
897 followed by a number to pass the argument
898 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
899 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
900 use this option multiple times to give
901 different arguments to different
902 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
903 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
904 after post-processing
905 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
906 post-processing (default)
907 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
908 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
909 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
911 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
912 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
913 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
914 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
915 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
916 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
917 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
918 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
919 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
920 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
921 (Alias: --add-chapters)
922 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
923 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
924 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
926 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
928 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
929 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
931 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
932 Replace text in a metadata field using the
933 given regex. This option can be used
935 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
936 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
937 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
938 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
939 (default; only when the videos form a
940 single show). All the video files must have
941 same codecs and number of streams to be
942 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
943 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
944 the output filename for the concatenated
945 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
946 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
947 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
948 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
949 default; fix file if we can, warn
950 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
952 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
953 path to the binary or its containing
955 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
956 when to execute it (after_move if
957 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
958 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
959 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
960 output template can be used to pass any
961 field as arguments to the command. After
962 download, an additional field "filepath"
963 that contains the final path of the
964 downloaded file is also available, and if
965 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
966 appended to the end of the command. This
967 option can be used multiple times
968 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
969 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
970 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
971 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
972 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
973 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp)
974 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
975 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
976 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
977 to set the output filename for the split
978 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
979 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
981 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
982 given regular expression. Time ranges
983 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
984 of chapters to remove the specified range.
985 Eg: --remove-chapters "*
10:
15-
15:
00"
986 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
987 be used multiple times
988 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
990 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
991 removing/splitting them. Requires a
992 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
993 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
995 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
996 when cutting/splitting (default)
997 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
998 postprocessors to be enabled, and
999 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1000 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1001 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1002 The "when" argument determines when the
1003 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1004 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1005 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1006 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1007 "post_process" (after each video download;
1008 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1009 file to it's final locations),
1010 "after_video" (after downloading and
1011 processing all formats of a video), or
1012 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
1013 option can be used multiple times to add
1014 different postprocessors
1016 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1017 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1018 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1019 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1021 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1022 for, separated by commas. Available
1023 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1024 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1025 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1026 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1027 exempt it. See [
1] for description of the
1028 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1029 [
1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1030 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1031 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1032 category is present in both mark and
1033 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1034 and available categories are the same as
1035 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1036 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1037 poi_highlight is not available
1038 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1039 The title template for SponsorBlock
1040 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1041 The same syntax as the output template is
1042 used, but the only available fields are
1043 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1044 name, category_names. Defaults to
1045 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1046 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1047 --sponsorblock-remove
1048 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1049 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1051 ## Extractor Options:
1052 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
1053 errors (default is
3), or "infinite"
1054 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1055 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1056 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1057 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1058 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1059 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1060 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1061 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1063 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1064 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1065 use this option multiple times to give
1066 arguments for different extractors
1070 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1072 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
1073 1. **Portable Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (
`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
1074 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
1075 1. **User Configuration**:
1076 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1077 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1078 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1079 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1081 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1083 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined. On windows,
`%APPDATA%` generally points to
`C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and
`~` points to
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`), or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1085 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1087 For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
1089 # Lines starting with # are comments
1091 # Always extract audio
1094 # Do not copy the mtime
1098 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1100 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1101 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1104 Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after
`-` or
`--`, e.g.
`-o` or
`--proxy` but not
`- o` or
`-- proxy`.
1106 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.
1108 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1110 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:
1113 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1115 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1117 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1121 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1122 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1124 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1126 The default location of the .netrc file is
`$HOME` (
`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`) or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1130 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.
1132 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1133 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1134 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1136 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).
1138 It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example,
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1140 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1142 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a
`.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using
`:`. Eg:
`%(tags.0)s`,
`%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`,
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`,
`%(formats.:.format_id)s`.
`%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
1144 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using
`+` and
`-` respectively. Eg:
`%(playlist_index+10)03d`,
`%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1146 1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to
[strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a
`>`. Eg:
`%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`,
`%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`,
`%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1148 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a
`,`. Eg:
`%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1150 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a
`&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1152 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` separator. This overrides
`--output-na-template`. Eg:
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1154 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`,
`B`,
`j`,
`l`,
`q`,
`D`,
`S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag
`#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag
`#` for
`\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag
`#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg:
10M) (flag
`#` to use
1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag
`#` for restricted), respectively
1156 1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type
`U` can be used for NFC
[unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (
`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag
`+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg:
`%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1158 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1160 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1163 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon
`:`. The different file types supported are
`subtitle`,
`thumbnail`,
`description`,
`annotation` (deprecated),
`infojson`,
`link`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`,
`pl_video`. For example,
`-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg:
`--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1165 The available fields are:
1167 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1168 - `title` (string): Video title
1169 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1170 - `url` (string): Video URL
1171 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1172 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1173 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1174 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1175 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1176 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1177 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1178 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1179 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1180 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1181 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1182 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1183 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1184 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1185 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1186 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1187 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1188 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1189 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1190 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1191 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1192 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1193 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1194 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1195 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1196 - `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)
1197 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1198 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
1199 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1200 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1201 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1202 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1203 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1204 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1205 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
1206 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
1207 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1208 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1209 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1210 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1211 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1212 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1213 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1214 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1215 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1216 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1217 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
1218 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1219 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1220 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1221 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1222 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1223 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1224 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1225 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1226 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1227 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1228 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1229 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1230 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1231 - `playlist` (string):
`playlist_id` or
`playlist_title`
1232 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1233 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1234 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1235 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1236 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1237 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1238 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1239 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1240 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1242 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1244 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1245 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1246 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1248 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1250 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1251 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1252 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1253 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1254 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1255 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1256 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1258 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1260 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1261 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1262 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1263 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1264 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1265 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1266 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1267 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1268 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1269 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1271 Available for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1273 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1274 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1275 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1276 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1278 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1280 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1281 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use
`--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
1282 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by
`--list-formats`
1283 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by
`--list-thumbnails`
1284 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1285 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1288 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1290 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1291 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1292 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1293 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1294 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1295 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1297 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`yt-dlp test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a
`yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1299 Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with
`--output-na-placeholder` (
`NA` by default).
1301 **Tip**: Look at the
`-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1303 For numeric sequences you can use
[numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
1305 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.
1307 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1309 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1311 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.
1313 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1314 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1316 If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (
`%`) by doubling, so that
`-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become
`-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch
`%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact:
`-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
1317 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1319 #### Output template examples
1322 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1323 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1325 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1326 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1328 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1329 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1331 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1332 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1334 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1335 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1337 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1338 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1340 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1341 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1343 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1344 $ 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"
1346 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1347 $ 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"
1349 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1350 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1351 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1353 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1354 $ 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
1356 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1357 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1362 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1363 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`.
1365 **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.
1367 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.
1369 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1370 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1371 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1373 The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with
`-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to
22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using
`--list-formats` or
`-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
1375 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.
1377 You can use
`-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1379 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1381 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1382 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1383 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1384 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1385 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1386 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1387 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1388 - `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))
1389 - `w*
`, `worst*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1390 - `w
`, `worst
`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]
`
1391 - `wv
`, `worstvideo
`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]
`
1392 - `wv*
`, `worstvideo*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]
`
1393 - `wa
`, `worstaudio
`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]
`
1394 - `wa*
`, `worstaudio*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]
`
1396 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.
1398 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.
1400 If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f
22/
17/
18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
1402 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
`.
1404 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...
` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio
` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1406 **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
1408 Unless `--video-multistreams
` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams
` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams
` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams
` will download and merge only `bestvideo
` and `bestaudio
`. `best
` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo
`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams
` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams
` will ignore `best
` and download only `bestaudio
`.
1410 ## Filtering Formats
1412 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=
720]"
` (or `-f "[filesize>
10M]"
`).
1414 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<
`, `<=
`, `>
`, `>=
`, `=
` (equals), `!=
` (not equals):
1416 - `filesize
`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1417 - `width
`: Width of the video, if known
1418 - `height
`: Height of the video, if known
1419 - `tbr
`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1420 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1421 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1422 - `asr
`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1425 Also filtering work for comparisons `=
` (equals), `^=
` (starts with), `$=
` (ends with), `*=
` (contains), `~=
` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1427 - `ext
`: File extension
1428 - `acodec
`: Name of the audio codec in use
1429 - `vcodec
`: Name of the video codec in use
1430 - `container
`: Name of the container format
1431 - `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
`)
1432 - `format_id
`: A short description of the format
1433 - `language
`: Language code
1435 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 `._-
`.
1437 Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
1439 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?
`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?
720][tbr>
500]"
` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all
` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"
` selects all audio-only formats.
1441 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<
480]"
`.
1445 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...
`.
1447 The available fields are:
1449 - `hasvid
`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1450 - `hasaud
`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1451 - `ie_pref
`: The format preference
1452 - `lang
`: The language preference
1453 - `quality
`: The quality of the format
1454 - `source
`: The preference of the source
1455 - `proto
`: Protocol used for download (`https
`/`ftps
` > `http
`/`ftp
` > `m3u8_native
`/`m3u8
` > `http_dash_segments
`> `websocket_frag
` > `mms
`/`rtsp
` > `f4f
`/`f4m
`)
1456 - `vcodec
`: Video Codec (`av01
` > `vp9.2
` > `vp9
` > `h265
` > `h264
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` > other)
1457 - `acodec
`: Audio Codec (`flac
`/`alac
` > `wav
`/`aiff
` > `opus
` > `vorbis
` > `aac
` > `mp4a
` > `mp3
` > `eac3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
` > other)
1458 - `codec
`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec
`
1459 - `vext
`: Video Extension (`mp4
` > `webm
` > `flv
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, `webm
` is preferred.
1460 - `aext
`: Audio Extension (`m4a
` > `aac
` > `mp3
` > `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, the order changes to `opus
` > `ogg
` > `webm
` > `m4a
` > `mp3
` > `aac
`.
1461 - `ext
`: Equivalent to `vext,aext
`
1462 - `filesize
`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1463 - `fs_approx
`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1464 - `size
`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1465 - `height
`: Height of video
1466 - `width
`: Width of video
1467 - `res
`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1468 - `fps
`: Framerate of video
1469 - `hdr
`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV
` > `HDR12
` > `HDR10+
` > `HDR10
` > `HLG
` > `SDR
`)
1470 - `tbr
`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1471 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1472 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1473 - `br
`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr
`
1474 - `asr
`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1476 **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.
1478 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+
`. Eg: `+res
` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:
`. Eg: `res:
720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec
` and `ext
`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a
` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a
`) sets the video codec preference to `h264
` > `h265
` > `vp9
` > `vp9.2
` > `av01
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` and audio codec preference to `mp4a
` > `aac
` > `vorbis
` > `opus
` > `mp3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~
` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~
1G
` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1480 The fields `hasvid
` and `ie_pref
` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force
`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:
12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id
`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1482 Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2
`; i.e. `av1
` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:
12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1484 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
`.
1486 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F
` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1488 ## Format Selection examples
1491 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1492 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1493 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1495 # Download best format that contains video,
1496 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1497 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1502 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1503 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1504 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1505 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1507 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1508 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1509 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1511 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1512 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1513 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1516 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1517 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1519 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1520 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1522 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1525 # Download the smallest video available
1526 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1530 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1531 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1533 # Download the best video with the best extension
1534 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1539 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1540 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1541 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1543 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1544 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1545 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1547 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1548 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1549 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1550 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1551 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1555 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1556 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1557 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1559 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1560 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1561 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1563 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1564 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1568 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1569 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1570 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1572 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1573 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1578 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1579 # or the best video if there is no such video
1580 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1582 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1583 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1584 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1586 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1587 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1588 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1592 # More complex examples
1594 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1595 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1596 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1598 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1599 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1600 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1601 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1605 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1606 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1607 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1608 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1611 # MODIFYING METADATA
1613 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata
` and `--replace-in-metadata
`
1615 `--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.
1617 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO
` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s
` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO
`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
1619 Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata
`.
1621 This option also has a few special uses:
1623 * You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls
` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)
` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1625 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_
` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description
` field will be added to the `description
` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_
` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language
`). Any value set to the `meta_
` field will overwrite all default values.
1627 **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.
1629 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1631 Metadata fields | From
1632 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1633 `title
` | `track
` or `title
`
1634 `date
` | `upload_date
`
1635 `description
`, `synopsis
` | `description
`
1636 `purl
`, `comment
` | `webpage_url
`
1637 `track
` | `track_number
`
1638 `artist
` | `artist
`, `creator
`, `uploader
` or `uploader_id
`
1641 `album_artist
` | `album_artist
`
1642 `disc
` | `disc_number
`
1644 `season_number
` | `season_number
`
1645 `episode_id
` | `episode
` or `episode_id
`
1646 `episode_sort
` | `episode_number
`
1647 `language
` of each stream | the format's `language
`
1649 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1652 ## Modifying metadata examples
1655 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1656 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1659 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1661 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1662 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1664 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1665 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1667 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1668 # handling multiple lines correctly
1669 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
1671 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1672 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1674 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1675 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1679 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1681 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS
`. `ARGS
` is a `;
` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2
`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"
`
1683 The following extractors use this feature:
1686 * `skip
`: One or more of `hls
`, `dash
` or `translated_subs
` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
1687 * `player_client
`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web
`, `android
` and `ios
` with variants `_music
`, `_embedded
`, `_embedscreen
`, `_creator
` (Eg: `web_embedded
`); and `mweb
` and `tv_embedded
` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web
` is used, but tv_embedded and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com
` urls. You can use `all
` to use all the clients, and `default
` for the default clients.
1688 * `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
1689 * `include_live_dash
`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start
` (These formats don't download properly)
1690 * `comment_sort
`: `top
` or `new
` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1691 * `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
`
1692 * 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
1694 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1695 * `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)
1696 * `approximate_date
`: Extract approximate `upload_date
` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1699 * `language
`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese
`
1700 * `version
`: The video version to extract - `uncut
` or `simulcast
`
1703 * `language
`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp
`
1704 * `hardsub
`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS
`
1706 #### crunchyrollbeta
1707 * `format
`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls
` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls
`
1708 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls
`, `adaptive_dash
`, `vo_adaptive_hls
`, `vo_adaptive_dash
`, `download_hls
`, `trailer_hls
`, `trailer_dash
`
1709 * `hardsub
`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None
` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None
`
1712 * `video_types
`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes
`, `movies
`, `clips
`, `trailers
`
1715 * `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.**
1717 #### youtubewebarchive
1718 * `check_all
`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails
`, `captures
`
1721 * `comment_sort
`: `hot
` (default), `you
` (cookies needed), `top
`, `new
` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1724 * `res
`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd
`, `hd
`, `fhd
`
1725 * `vcodec
`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264
`, `h265
`, `dvh265
`
1726 * `dr
`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr
`, `hdr10
`, `dv
`
1729 * `app_version
`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version
`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1730 * `manifest_app_version
`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1733 * `tab
`: Which tab to download. One of `new
`, `top
`, `videos
`, `podcasts
`, `streams
`, `stacks
`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams
`)
1736 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1738 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1743 Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py
`; where `<root-dir>
` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp
`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py
`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip
` version
1745 Plugins can be of `<type>
`s `extractor
` or `postprocessor
`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME
`.
1747 See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1749 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
1751 If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1757 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1759 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.
1761 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1764 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1766 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1767 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1771 Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L181).
1773 **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)
1775 ## Embedding examples
1777 #### Extracting information
1783 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1785 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1787 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1788 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1790 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1791 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1793 #### Download using an info-json
1798 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1800 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1801 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1803 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1804 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1812 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1815 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1816 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1817 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1818 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1819 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1823 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1824 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1832 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1834 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1835 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1836 duration = info.get('duration')
1837 if duration and duration < 60:
1838 return 'The video is too short'
1841 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1844 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1845 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1848 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1853 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1856 def debug(self, msg):
1857 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1858 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1859 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1864 def info(self, msg):
1867 def warning(self, msg):
1870 def error(self, msg):
1874 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1876 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1877 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1881 'logger': MyLogger(),
1882 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1885 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1889 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
1894 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1896 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
1897 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1898 def run(self, info):
1899 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1903 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1904 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1909 #### Use a custom format selector
1914 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1916 def format_selector(ctx):
1917 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1918 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1920 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1921 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1923 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1924 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1925 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1927 # find compatible audio extension
1928 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1929 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1930 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1931 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1933 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1935 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1936 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1937 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1938 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1939 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1944 'format': format_selector,
1947 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1951 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1953 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1955 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1957 #### Almost redundant options
1958 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1960 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1961 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1962 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1963 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1965 #### Redundant options
1966 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1968 --get-description --print description
1969 --get-duration --print duration_string
1970 --get-filename --print filename
1971 --get-format --print format
1973 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1974 -e, --get-title --print title
1975 -g, --get-url --print urls
1976 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1977 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1978 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1979 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
1980 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1981 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
1984 #### Not recommended
1985 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1987 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
1988 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
1989 --all-formats -f all
1990 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1991 --print-json -j --no-simulate
1992 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
1993 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1994 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1995 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1996 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1997 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1998 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1999 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2000 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2001 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2002 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2003 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2006 #### Developer options
2007 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2009 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2010 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2011 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2012 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2016 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2018 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2019 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2020 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2021 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2022 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2023 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2024 --load-info --load-info-json
2025 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2026 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2027 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2028 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2029 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2030 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2031 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2032 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2033 --write-srt --write-subs
2034 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2036 #### Sponskrub Options
2037 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock
` options
2039 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2040 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2041 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2042 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2043 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2044 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2045 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2046 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2048 #### No longer supported
2049 These options may no longer work as intended
2051 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2052 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2053 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2054 --no-call-home Default
2055 --include-ads No longer supported
2056 --no-include-ads Default
2057 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2058 --no-write-annotations Default
2061 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2063 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2064 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2067 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)
2070 For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)