1 This is a fork of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) which is inturn a fork of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
4 [![](https://img.shields.io/badge/Fork-2020.10.19.01-brightgreen?style=for-the-badge&logo=GitHub)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/youtube-dl)
5 [![](https://img.shields.io/badge/youtube--dl-2020.09.20-blue?style=for-the-badge&logo=GitHub)]
(https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
8 - [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DLC](#changes)
9 - [ABOUT THIS FORK](#about-this-fork)
10 - [INSTALLATION](#installation)
11 - [YOUTUBE-DLC](#youtube-dlc)
12 - [DESCRIPTION](#description)
14 * [Network Options](#network-options)
15 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
16 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
17 * [Download Options](#download-options)
18 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
19 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
20 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
21 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
22 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
23 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
24 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
25 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
26 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
27 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
28 * [SponSkrub Options (SponsorBlock)](#sponskrub-options-sponsorblock)
29 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
30 - [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
31 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
32 - [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
33 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
34 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
35 - [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
36 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
37 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
38 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
39 - [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection-
1)
44 See
[commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/commits) for more details
47 * **Format Sort:** Added
`--format-sort` (
`-S`),
`--format-sort-force` (
`--S-force`) - See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for details
48 * **Format Selection:** See [Format Selection](#format-selection) for details
49 * New format selectors:
`best*`,
`worst*`,
`bestvideo*`,
`bestaudio*`,
`worstvideo*`,
`worstaudio*`
50 * Changed video format sorting to show video only files and video+audio files together.
51 * Added
`--video-multistreams`,
`--no-video-multistreams`,
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--no-audio-multistreams`
52 * Added
`b`,
`w`,
`v`,
`a` as alias for
`best`,
`worst`,
`video` and
`audio` respectively
53 * **Shortcut Options:** Added
`--write-link`,
`--write-url-link`,
`--write-webloc-link`,
`--write-desktop-link` by @h-h-h-h - See [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options) for details
54 * **Sponskrub integration:** Added
`--sponskrub`,
`--sponskrub-cut`,
`--sponskrub-force`,
`--sponskrub-location`,
`--sponskrub-args` - See [SponSkrub Options](#sponskrub-options-sponsorblock) for details
55 * Added
`--force-download-archive` (
`--force-write-archive`) by by h-h-h-h
56 * Added
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--list-formats-old`
57 * **Negative Options:** Makes it possible to negate boolean options by adding a
`no-` to the switch
58 * Added
`--no-ignore-dynamic-mpd`,
`--no-allow-dynamic-mpd`,
`--allow-dynamic-mpd`,
`--youtube-include-hls-manifest`,
`--no-youtube-include-hls-manifest`,
`--no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest`,
`--no-download`,
`--no-download-archive`,
`--resize-buffer`,
`--part`,
`--mtime`,
`--no-keep-fragments`,
`--no-cookies`,
`--no-write-annotations`,
`--no-write-info-json`,
`--no-write-description`,
`--no-write-thumbnail`,
`--youtube-include-dash-manifest`,
`--post-overwrites`,
`--no-keep-video`,
`--no-embed-subs`,
`--no-embed-thumbnail`,
`--no-add-metadata`,
`--no-include-ads`,
`--no-write-sub`,
`--no-write-auto-sub`,
`--no-playlist-reverse`,
`--no-restrict-filenames`,
`--youtube-include-dash-manifest`,
`--no-format-sort-force`,
`--flat-videos`,
`--no-list-formats-as-table`,
`--no-sponskrub`,
`--no-sponskrub-cut`,
`--no-sponskrub-force`
59 * Renamed:
`--write-subs`, --no-write-subs
`, `--no-write-auto-subs,
`--write-auto-subs`. Note that these can still be used without the ending "s"
60 * Relaxed validation for format filters so that any arbitrary field can be used
61 * Fix for embedding thumbnail in mp3 by @pauldubois98
62 * Make Twitch Video ID output from Playlist and VOD extractor same. This is only a temporary fix
63 * **Merge youtube-dl:** Upto
[2020.01.03](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/8e953dcbb10a1a42f4e12e4e132657cb0100a1f8) - See
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc#280](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/pull/280) for details
64 * Cleaned up the fork for public use
67 * **Changed defaults:**
69 * Disabled
`--video-multistreams` and
`--audio-multistreams`
70 * Changed default format selection to
`bv*+ba/b` when
`--audio-multistreams` is disabled
71 * Changed default format sort order to
`res,fps,codec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,has_audio,source,format_id`
72 * Changed
`webm` to be more preferable than
`flv` in format sorting
73 * Changed default output template to
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`
74 * Enabled
`--list-formats-as-table`
87 I don't plan on making any releases. If anyone wants to create and maintain releases for this fork, please contact me.
89 You can clone /
[download](https://github.com/pukkandan/youtube-dl/archive/master.zip) this repository and run it with
`python youtube_dl/__main__.py <args>`. Alternatively, you can install the fork using
`pip install --upgrade https://github.com/pukkandan/youtube-dl/archive/master.zip` and run it with
`python -m youtube_dl <args>`.
91 In order to update, simply repeat the process.
99 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc.svg?branch=master)]
(https://travis-ci.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
100 [![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/youtube-dlc.svg)]
(https://pypi.org/project/youtube-dlc)
102 [![Gitter chat](https://img.shields.io/gitter/room/youtube-dlc/community)]
(https://gitter.im/youtube-dlc)
103 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Unlicense-blue.svg)]
(https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/blob/master/LICENSE)
105 youtube-dlc - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms.
107 youtube-dlc is a fork of youtube-dl with the intention of getting features tested by the community merged in the tool faster, since youtube-dl's development seems to be slowing down.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20201014194602/https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/26462)
111 [How to update](#update)
114 Preferred way using pip:
115 You may want to use
`python3` instead of
`python`
117 python -m pip install --upgrade youtube-dlc
119 If you want to install the current master branch
121 python -m pip install git+https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc
123 **UNIX** (Linux, macOS, etc.)
126 sudo wget https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/releases/latest/download/youtube-dlc -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
127 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
131 sudo curl -L https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/releases/latest/download/youtube-dlc -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
132 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
135 **Windows** users can download
[youtube-dlc.exe](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/releases/latest/download/youtube-dlc.exe) (**do not** put in
`C:\Windows\System32`!).
138 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
140 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
141 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
143 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
144 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
146 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
147 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
150 You will need the required build tools
151 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
152 Then simply type this
158 **DO NOT UPDATE using
`-U` !** instead download binaries again or when installed with pip use a described above when installing.
159 I will add some memorable short links to the binaries so you can download them easier.
166 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
2.6,
2.7, or
3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
168 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
171 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
173 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
174 --version Print program version and exit
175 -U, --update (Doesn't work since there is no release)
176 Update this program to latest version. Make
177 sure that you have sufficient permissions
178 (run with sudo if needed)
180 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
181 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
182 (default) (Same as --no-abort-on-error)
183 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
184 error occurs (Same as --no-ignore-errors)
185 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
186 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
187 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
189 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
191 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
192 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
193 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
194 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
195 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
196 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
197 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
198 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
199 this is not possible instead of searching.
200 --ignore-config, --no-config Do not read configuration files. When given
201 in the global configuration file
202 /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
203 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
204 dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
206 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
207 the path to the config or its containing
209 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
211 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
212 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
213 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
214 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (YouTube only)
215 --no-color Do not emit color codes in output
218 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
219 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
221 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
222 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
223 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
224 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
225 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
226 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
229 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
230 some geo-restricted sites. The default
231 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
232 option is not present) is used for the
234 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
235 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
236 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
237 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
238 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
239 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
241 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
242 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
246 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
247 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
248 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
249 indices of the videos in the playlist
250 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
251 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
252 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
253 specify range: "--playlist-items
254 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
255 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13.
256 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
258 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
260 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
261 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
262 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
263 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
265 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
266 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
267 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
268 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
269 this date (i.e. inclusive). The date formats
270 accepted is the same as --date
271 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
272 this date (i.e. inclusive). The date formats
273 accepted is the same as --date
274 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
276 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
278 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
279 the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of
280 available keys) to match if the key is
281 present, !key to check if the key is not
282 present, key > NUMBER (like "comment_count
283 > 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
284 compare against a number, key = 'LITERAL'
285 (like "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works
286 with !=) to match against a string literal
287 and & to require multiple matches. Values
288 which are not known are excluded unless you
289 put a question mark (?) after the operator.
290 For example, to only match videos that have
291 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
292 less than
50 times (or the dislike
293 functionality is not available at the given
294 service), but who also have a description,
295 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
296 dislike_count <?
50 & description" .
297 --no-match-filter FILTER Do not use generic video filter (default)
298 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
299 to a video and a playlist.
300 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
301 a video and a playlist.
302 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
304 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
305 archive file. Record the IDs of all
306 downloaded videos in it.
307 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
308 --break-on-existing Stop the download process after attempting
309 to download a file that's in the archive.
310 --include-ads Download advertisements as well (experimental)
311 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
314 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
316 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
318 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
319 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
321 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
322 hlsnative and ISM (default)
323 (Same as --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
324 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
325 (Same as --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
326 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
327 downloading is finished
328 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after downloading
329 is finished (default)
330 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
332 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized from
333 an initial value of --buffer-size (default)
334 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer
336 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
337 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
338 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
339 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
341 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
342 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
343 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
344 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
346 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
348 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
350 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
351 allowing to play the video while
352 downloading (some players may not be able
354 --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
356 aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
357 --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
360 ## Filesystem Options:
361 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
362 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
363 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
364 comments and ignored.
365 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see the "OUTPUT
366 TEMPLATE" for all the info
367 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
369 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
370 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
372 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces
373 in filenames (default)
374 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
375 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files (default)
376 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded files
377 (restart from beginning)
378 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
379 into output file (default)
380 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
382 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
383 file modification time
384 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
385 the file modification time
386 --write-description Write video description to a .description
388 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
389 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
390 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
391 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
392 .annotations.xml file
393 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
394 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
395 (created with the "--write-info-json"
397 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
399 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
400 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
401 can store some downloaded information
402 permanently. By default
403 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
404 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
405 YouTube player files (for videos with
406 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
408 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
409 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
410 --trim-file-name Limit the filename length (extension
414 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
415 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
416 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
417 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
421 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
422 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending on
423 the current platform (.url/.webloc/.desktop).
424 The URL may be cached by the OS.
425 --write-url-link Write a Windows .url internet shortcut file.
426 (The OS caches the URL based on the file path)
427 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut file
428 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut file
430 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
431 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
432 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
433 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
435 --skip-download Do not download the video
436 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
437 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
438 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
439 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
440 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
441 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
442 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
443 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
444 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
445 See the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description
447 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
448 for each command-line argument. If the URL
449 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
450 playlist information in a single line.
451 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
452 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
453 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
454 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
455 another simulation switch is used.
456 (Same as --force-download-archive)
457 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
458 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
459 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
460 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
461 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
462 to debug problems (very verbose)
463 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
464 files in the current directory to debug
466 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
467 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dlc server for debugging
468 --no-call-home Do not contact the youtube-dlc server for
472 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
473 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
474 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
475 information about the video. (Currently
476 supported only for YouTube)
477 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
478 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
479 access is restricted to one domain
480 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
481 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
482 option multiple times
483 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
484 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
485 or fribidi executable in PATH
486 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
487 download when used alone or a lower bound
488 of a range for randomized sleep before each
489 download (minimum possible number of
490 seconds to sleep) when used along with
491 --max-sleep-interval.
492 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
493 before each download (maximum possible
494 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
495 used along with --min-sleep-interval.
496 --sleep-subtitles Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well.
499 ## Video Format Options:
500 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
502 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
503 "Sorting Formats" for more details
504 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
505 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
506 Formats" for more details
507 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
508 specified sort order, see "Sorting Formats"
509 for more details (default)
510 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged into
512 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
513 output file (default)
514 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged into
516 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
517 output file (default)
518 --all-formats Download all available video formats
519 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific
521 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
523 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in a more tabular
525 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in older form
526 (Same as --no-list-formats-as-table)
527 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
528 related data on YouTube videos
529 (Same as --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
530 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related data
531 on YouTube videos (default)
532 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
533 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
534 related data on YouTube videos
535 (Same as --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
536 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
537 on YouTube videos (default)
538 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
539 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
540 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
541 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
542 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
545 --write-sub Write subtitle file
546 --no-write-sub Do not write subtitle file (default)
547 --write-auto-sub Write automatically generated subtitle file
549 --no-write-auto-sub Do not write automatically generated
550 subtitle file (default)
551 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
553 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
554 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
555 preference, for example: "srt" or
557 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
558 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
559 subs for available language tags
561 ## Authentication Options:
562 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
563 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
564 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively.
565 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
566 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
567 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
569 ## Adobe Pass Options:
570 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
571 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
572 a list of available MSOs
573 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
574 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
575 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
576 will ask interactively.
577 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
580 ## Post-processing Options:
581 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
582 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
584 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
585 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
586 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
588 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
589 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
590 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
592 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video to another container format
593 if necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv,
594 target container format must support video
595 / audio encoding, remuxing may fail)
596 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
597 necessary (currently supported:
598 mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
599 --postprocessor-args ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessor
600 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
601 after post-processing
602 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
603 post-processing (default)
604 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
605 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
606 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
608 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles in the video (default)
609 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
610 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
611 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
612 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
613 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
614 artist from the video title. The format
615 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
616 expression with named capture groups may
617 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
618 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
619 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
620 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
621 (regex): --metadata-from-title
622 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
623 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
624 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
625 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
626 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
627 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
628 default; fix file if we can, warn
630 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
631 postprocessors (Same as --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
632 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
633 postprocessors (default)
634 (Same as --no-prefer-avconv)
635 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
636 either the path to the binary or its
637 containing directory.
638 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
639 downloading and post-processing, similar to
640 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
641 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
642 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
643 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
645 ## SponSkrub Options (SponsorBlock)
646 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections with
647 the data available in SponsorBlock API. This
648 is enabled by default if the sponskrub binary
649 exists (Youtube only)
650 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
652 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
654 --sponskrub-force Allow cutting out the sponsor sections even
655 if the video was already downloaded.
656 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
657 video was already downloaded (default)
658 --sponskrub-location Location of the sponskrub binary;
659 either the path to the binary or its
661 --sponskrub-args Give these arguments to sponskrub
663 ## Extractor Options:
664 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
665 (Same as --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
666 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
667 (Same as --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
671 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux and macOS, the system wide configuration file is located at
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf` and the user wide configuration file at
`~/.config/youtube-dlc/config`. On Windows, the user wide configuration file locations are
`%APPDATA%\youtube-dlc\config.txt` or
`C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dlc.conf`. Note that by default configuration file may not exist so you may need to create it yourself.
673 For example, with the following configuration file youtube-dlc will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`Movies` directory in your home directory:
675 # Lines starting with # are comments
677 # Always extract audio
680 # Do not copy the mtime
684 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
686 # Save all videos under Movies directory in your home directory
687 -o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
690 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`.
692 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
694 You can also use
`--config-location` if you want to use custom configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
696 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
698 You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with
`--username` and
`--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every youtube-dlc execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a
[`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a
`.netrc` file in your
`$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
701 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
703 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
705 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
709 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
710 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
712 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
714 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
716 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
721 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
723 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
725 The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`youtube-dlc -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/2/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting). For example,
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations. Allowed names along with sequence type are:
727 - `id` (string): Video identifier
728 - `title` (string): Video title
729 - `url` (string): Video URL
730 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
731 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
732 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
733 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
734 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
735 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
736 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
737 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
738 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
739 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
740 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
741 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
742 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
743 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
744 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
745 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
746 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
747 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
748 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
749 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
750 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
751 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
752 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
753 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
754 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
755 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
756 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
757 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
758 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
759 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
760 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
761 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
762 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
763 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
764 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
765 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
766 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
767 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
768 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
769 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
770 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
771 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
772 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
773 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
774 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
775 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
776 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
777 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
778 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
779 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
780 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
781 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
783 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
785 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
786 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
787 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
789 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
791 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
792 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
793 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
794 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
795 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
796 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
797 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
799 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
801 - `track` (string): Title of the track
802 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
803 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
804 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
805 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
806 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
807 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
808 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
809 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
810 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
812 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with
`NA`.
814 For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`youtube-dlc test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a
`youtube-dlc test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
816 For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
818 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.
820 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
822 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
824 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:
826 #### Output template and Windows batch files
828 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"`.
830 #### Output template examples
832 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
835 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
836 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
838 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
839 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
841 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
842 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
844 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
845 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
847 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
848 $ youtube-dlc -u user -p password -o '~/MyVideos/%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
850 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
851 $ youtube-dlc -o "C:/MyVideos/%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
853 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
854 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
859 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
860 This is generally equivalent to using
`-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, if multiple audiostreams is enabled (
`--audio-multistreams`), the default format changes to
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best`. Similarly, if ffmpeg and avconv are unavailable, or if you use youtube-dlc to stream to
`stdout` (
`-o -`), the default becomes
`-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
862 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.
864 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
866 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.
868 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.
870 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
872 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
873 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
875 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
876 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
878 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
879 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
881 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
882 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
884 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
885 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
887 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
888 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
890 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use
`-f worstvideo`. It is however recomended to never actually use
`worst` and related options. When your format selector is
`worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of
`-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
892 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.
894 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`.
896 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using
`-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg or avconv installed), for example
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg/avconv. If
`--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if
`--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example,
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` will download and merge all
3 given formats. The resulting file will have
2 video streams and
2 audio streams. But
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only
`bestvideo` and
`bestaudio`.
`best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (
`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important.
`-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while
`-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore
`best` and download only
`bestaudio`.
900 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
902 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
904 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
905 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
906 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
907 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
908 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
909 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
910 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
913 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
915 - `ext`: File extension
916 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
917 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
918 - `container`: Name of the container format
919 - `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`)
920 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
921 - `language`: Language code
923 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
925 Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the video hoster. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
927 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.
929 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than
480 you can use
`-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
933 You can change the criteria for being considered the
`best` by using
`-S` (
`--format-sort`). The general format for this is
`--format-sort field1,field2...`. The available fields are:
935 - `video`,
`has_video`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
936 - `audio`,
`has_audio`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
937 - `extractor`,
`preference`,
`extractor_preference`: The format preference as given by the extractor
938 - `lang`,
`language_preference`: Language preference as given by the extractor
939 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
940 - `source`,
`source_preference`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
941 - `proto`,
`protocol`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
942 - `vcodec`,
`video_codec`: Video Codec (
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
943 - `acodec`,
`audio_codec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
944 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
945 - `vext`,
`video_ext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`flv` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
946 - `aext`,
`audio_ext`: Audio Extension (
`m4a` >
`aac` >
`mp3` >
`ogg` >
`opus` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to
`opus` >
`ogg` >
`webm` >
`m4a` >
`mp3` >
`aac`.
947 - `ext`,
`extension`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
948 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
949 - `filesize_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
950 - `size`,
`filesize_estimate`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
951 - `height`: Height of video
952 - `width`: Width of video
953 - `res`,
`dimension`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
954 - `fps`,
`framerate`: Framerate of video
955 - `tbr`,
`total_bitrate`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
956 - `vbr`,
`video_bitrate`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
957 - `abr`,
`audio_bitrate`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
958 - `br`,
`bitrate`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
959 - `samplerate`,
`asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
961 Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in decending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a
`+`. Eg:
`+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a prefered value for the fields, seperated by a
`:`. Eg:
`res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than
720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than
720p. For
`codec` and
`ext`, you can provide two prefered values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg:
`+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to
`+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to
`h264` >
`h265` >
`vp9` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` and audio codec preference to
`mp4a` >
`aac` >
`vorbis` >
`opus` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using
`~` as the delimiter. Eg:
`filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to
1 GiB.
963 The fields
`has_video`,
`extractor`,
`lang`,
`quality` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is:
`res,fps,codec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,has_audio,source,format_id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
965 If your format selector is
`worst`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all repects. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps`.
967 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
969 ## Format Selection examples
971 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
974 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
975 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
976 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
978 # Download best format that contains video,
979 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
980 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
987 # Download the worst video available
988 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
990 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
991 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
993 # Download the smallest video available
994 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+bitrate'
998 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
999 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
1001 # Download the best video with the best extension
1002 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1003 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
1007 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1008 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1009 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1011 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1012 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1013 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
1015 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1016 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1017 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1018 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1019 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
1023 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1024 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1025 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1027 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1028 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1029 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1031 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1032 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1036 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1037 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1038 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1040 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1041 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1042 $ youtube-dlc -S 'protocol'
1046 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1047 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1048 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1049 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1053 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1054 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1056 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1057 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1058 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1060 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1061 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1062 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1066 # More complex examples
1068 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1069 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1070 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1072 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1073 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1074 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1075 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1079 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1080 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1081 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1082 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1090 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)