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(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/blob/master/LICENSE)
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9 A command-line program to download videos from youtube.com and many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md)
11 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)
13 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
14 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17 * [DESCRIPTION](#description)
19 * [Network Options](#network-options)
20 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
21 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
22 * [Download Options](#download-options)
23 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
24 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
25 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
26 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
27 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
28 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
29 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
30 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
31 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
32 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
33 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
34 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
35 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
36 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
37 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
38 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
39 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
40 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
41 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
42 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
43 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
48 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
50 * **
[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/pukkandan/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the
[SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
52 * **[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 that what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
54 * **Merged with youtube-dl v2021.01
.16**: You get all the latest features and patches of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
56 * **Youtube improvements**:
57 * All Youtube Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) works correctly and support downloading multiple pages of content
58 * Youtube search works correctly (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`) along with Search URLs
59 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
61 * **New extractors**: Trovo.live, AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv
63 * **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, tiktok, akamai, ina
65 * **New options**:
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
67 * **Improvements**: Multiple
`--postprocessor-args`,
`%(duration_string)s` in
`-o`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
69 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
72 **PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
74 If you are coming from
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare
[options](#options) and [supported sites](docs/supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
79 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
80 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp/):
`python -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
81 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
82 * Use pip+git:
`python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp.git@release`
83 * Install master branch:
`python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp`
86 `-U` does not work. Simply repeat the install process to update.
91 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
93 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
94 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
96 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
97 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
99 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
100 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
103 You will need the required build tools
104 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
105 Then simply type this
111 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from youtube.com many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md). 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.
113 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
117 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
118 <!-- Autogenerated -->
121 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
122 --version Print program version and exit
123 -U, --update [BROKEN] Update this program to latest
124 version. Make sure that you have sufficient
125 permissions (run with sudo if needed)
126 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
127 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
128 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
129 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
130 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
131 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
132 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
133 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
135 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
137 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
138 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
139 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
140 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
141 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
142 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
143 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
144 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
145 this is not possible instead of searching
146 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
147 except the one provided by --config-location.
148 When given inside a configuration
149 file, no further configuration files are
150 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
151 compatibility) if this option is found
152 inside the system configuration file, the
153 user configuration is not loaded
154 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
155 the path to the config or its containing
157 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
159 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
160 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
161 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
162 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched
163 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
166 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
167 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
169 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
170 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
171 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
172 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
173 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
174 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
177 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
178 some geo-restricted sites. The default
179 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
180 option is not present) is used for the
182 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
183 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
184 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
185 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
186 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
187 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
189 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
190 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
194 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
195 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
196 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
197 indices of the videos in the playlist
198 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
199 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
200 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
201 specify range: "--playlist-items
202 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
203 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
204 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
206 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
208 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
209 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
210 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
211 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
213 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
214 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
215 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
216 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
217 this date. The date formats accepted is the
219 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
220 this date. The date formats accepted is the
222 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
224 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
226 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
227 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
228 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
229 to check if the key is not present,
230 key>NUMBER (like "comment_count >
12", also
231 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
232 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
233 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
234 !=) to match against a string literal and &
235 to require multiple matches. Values which
236 are not known are excluded unless you put a
237 question mark (?) after the operator. For
238 example, to only match videos that have
239 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
240 less than
50 times (or the dislike
241 functionality is not available at the given
242 service), but who also have a description,
243 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
244 dislike_count <?
50 & description"
245 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
246 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
247 to a video and a playlist
248 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
249 a video and a playlist
250 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
252 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
253 archive file. Record the IDs of all
254 downloaded videos in it
255 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
256 a file that is in the archive
257 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
258 a file that has been filtered out
259 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
260 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
262 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
265 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
267 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
269 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
270 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
272 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
273 hlsnative and ISM (default)
274 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
275 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
276 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
277 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
278 downloading is finished
279 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
280 downloading is finished (default)
281 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
283 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
284 from an initial value of --buffer-size
286 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
287 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
288 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
289 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
290 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
292 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
293 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
295 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
296 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
298 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
300 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
302 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
303 allowing to play the video while
304 downloading (some players may not be able
306 --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
308 aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
309 --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
312 ## Filesystem Options:
313 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
314 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
315 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
317 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see "OUTPUT
318 TEMPLATE" for details
319 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
321 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
322 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
324 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
326 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
327 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
328 This option includes --no-continue
329 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
330 related files (default)
331 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files (default)
332 --no-continue Restart download of partially downloaded
334 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
335 into output file (default)
336 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
338 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
339 file modification time (default)
340 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
341 the file modification time
342 --write-description Write video description to a .description
344 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
345 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
346 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
347 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
348 .annotations.xml file
349 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
350 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
351 (created with the "--write-info-json"
353 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
355 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
356 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
357 can store some downloaded information
358 permanently. By default
359 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
360 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
361 YouTube player files (for videos with
362 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
364 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
365 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
366 --trim-file-name LENGTH Limit the filename length (extension
370 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
371 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
373 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
374 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
377 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
378 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
379 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
380 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
381 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
382 OS caches the URL based on the file path
383 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
384 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
386 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
387 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
388 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
389 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
391 --skip-download Do not download the video
392 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
393 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
394 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
395 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
396 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
397 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
398 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
399 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
400 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
401 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
403 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
404 for each command-line argument. If the URL
405 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
406 playlist information in a single line
407 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
408 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
409 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
410 written as far as no errors occur,even if
411 -s or another simulation switch is used
412 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
413 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
414 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
415 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
416 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
417 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
418 to debug problems (very verbose)
419 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
420 files in the current directory to debug
422 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
423 -C, --call-home [Broken] Contact the youtube-dlc server for
425 --no-call-home Do not contact the youtube-dlc server for
429 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
430 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
431 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
432 information about the video. (Currently
433 supported only for YouTube)
434 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
435 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
436 access is restricted to one domain
437 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
438 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
439 option multiple times
440 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
441 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
442 or fribidi executable in PATH
443 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
444 download when used alone or a lower bound
445 of a range for randomized sleep before each
446 download (minimum possible number of
447 seconds to sleep) when used along with
449 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
450 before each download (maximum possible
451 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
452 used along with --min-sleep-interval
453 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well
455 ## Video Format Options:
456 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
458 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
459 "Sorting Formats" for more details
460 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
461 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
462 Formats" for more details
463 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
464 specified sort order (default), see
465 "Sorting Formats" for more details
466 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
468 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
469 each output file (default)
470 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
472 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
473 each output file (default)
474 --all-formats Download all available video formats
475 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats over non-free
476 formats of same quality
477 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
479 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in tabular form
481 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
482 (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
483 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related
484 data on YouTube videos (default) (Alias:
485 --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
486 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
487 related data on YouTube videos (Alias:
488 --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
489 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
490 on YouTube videos (default) (Alias:
491 --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
492 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
493 related data on YouTube videos (Alias:
494 --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
495 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
496 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
497 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
498 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
501 --write-subs Write subtitle file
502 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
503 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
505 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write automatically generated
506 subtitle file (default)
507 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
509 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
510 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
511 preference, for example: "srt" or
513 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
514 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
515 subs for available language tags
517 ## Authentication Options:
518 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
519 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
520 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively
521 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
522 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
523 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
525 ## Adobe Pass Options:
526 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
527 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
528 a list of available MSOs
529 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
530 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
531 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
532 will ask interactively
533 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
536 ## Post-Processing Options:
537 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
538 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
540 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
541 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
542 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
544 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
545 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
546 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
548 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
549 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv).
550 If target container does not support the
551 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail
552 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
553 re-encoding is necessary (currently
554 supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
555 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
556 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
557 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
558 to give the argument to the specified
559 postprocessor/executable. Supported
560 postprocessors are: SponSkrub,
561 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
562 EmbedSubtitle, Metadata, Merger,
563 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
564 SubtitlesConvertor and EmbedThumbnail. The
565 supported executables are: SponSkrub,
566 FFmpeg, FFprobe, avconf, avprobe and
567 AtomicParsley. You can use this option
568 multiple times to give different arguments
569 to different postprocessors. You can also
570 specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments
571 to the specified executable only when being
572 used by the specified postprocessor. You
573 can use this option multiple times (Alias:
575 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
576 after post-processing
577 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
578 post-processing (default)
579 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
580 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
581 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
583 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
584 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
585 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
586 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
587 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
588 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
589 artist from the video title. The format
590 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
591 expression with named capture groups may
592 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
593 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
594 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
595 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
596 (regex): --metadata-from-title
597 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
598 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
599 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
600 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
601 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
602 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
603 default; fix file if we can, warn
605 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
606 postprocessors (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
607 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
608 postprocessors (default)
609 (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
610 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
611 either the path to the binary or its
613 (Alias: --avconv-location)
614 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
615 downloading and post-processing, similar to
616 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
617 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
618 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
619 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
621 ## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
622 [SponSkrub](https://github.com/pukkandan/SponSkrub) is a utility to
623 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
624 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
626 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
627 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
628 binary exists (Youtube only)
629 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
630 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
632 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
634 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
636 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
637 video was already downloaded (default)
638 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
639 the path to the binary or its containing
642 ## Extractor Options:
643 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
644 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
645 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
646 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
650 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
652 1. The file given by
`--config-location`
653 1. **Portable Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` or
`youtube-dlc.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (
`<root dir>/youtube_dlc/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
654 1. **User Configuration**:
655 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
656 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
657 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
658 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
660 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
662 If none of these files are found, the search is performed again by replacing
`yt-dlp` with
`youtube-dlc`. Note that
`~` points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also,
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined
663 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf` or
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf`
665 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
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
667 # Lines starting with # are comments
669 # Always extract audio
672 # Do not copy the mtime
676 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
678 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
679 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
682 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`.
684 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular youtube-dlc run. If
`--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
686 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
688 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:
691 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
693 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
695 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
699 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
700 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
702 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
704 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
706 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
711 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
713 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
715 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:
717 - `id` (string): Video identifier
718 - `title` (string): Video title
719 - `url` (string): Video URL
720 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
721 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
722 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
723 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
724 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
725 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
726 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
727 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
728 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
729 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
730 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
731 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
732 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
733 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
734 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
735 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
736 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
737 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
738 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
739 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
740 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
741 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
742 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
743 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
744 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
745 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
746 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
747 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
748 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
749 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
750 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
751 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
752 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
753 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
754 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
755 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
756 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
757 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
758 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
759 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
760 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
761 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
762 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
763 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
764 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
765 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
766 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
767 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
768 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
769 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
770 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
771 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
773 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
775 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
776 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
777 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
779 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
781 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
782 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
783 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
784 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
785 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
786 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
787 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
789 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
791 - `track` (string): Title of the track
792 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
793 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
794 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
795 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
796 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
797 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
798 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
799 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
800 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
802 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`.
804 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.
806 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`.
808 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.
810 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
812 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
814 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:
816 #### Output template and Windows batch files
818 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"`.
820 #### Output template examples
822 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
825 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
826 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
828 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
829 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
831 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
832 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
834 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
835 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
837 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
838 $ 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/
840 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
841 $ 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
843 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
844 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
849 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
850 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`.
852 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.
854 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
856 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.
858 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.
860 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
862 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
863 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
864 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
865 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
866 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
867 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
868 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
869 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
870 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
871 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
872 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
873 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
875 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.
877 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.
879 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`.
881 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`.
885 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
887 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
889 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
890 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
891 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
892 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
893 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
894 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
895 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
898 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
900 - `ext`: File extension
901 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
902 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
903 - `container`: Name of the container format
904 - `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`)
905 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
906 - `language`: Language code
908 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
910 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.
912 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.
914 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]'`.
918 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:
920 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
921 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
922 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
923 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
924 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
925 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
926 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
927 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
928 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
929 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
930 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
931 - `aext`: Audio Extension (
`m4a` >
`aac` >
`mp3` >
`ogg` >
`opus` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to
`opus` >
`ogg` >
`webm` >
`m4a` >
`mp3` >
`aac`.
932 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
933 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
934 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
935 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
936 - `height`: Height of video
937 - `width`: Width of video
938 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
939 - `fps`: Framerate of video
940 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
941 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
942 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
943 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
944 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
946 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.
948 The fields
`hasvid`,
`ie_pref`,
`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,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
950 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`.
952 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
954 ## Format Selection examples
956 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
959 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
960 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
961 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
963 # Download best format that contains video,
964 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
965 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
970 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
971 # For this case, an output template should be used since
972 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
973 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
977 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
978 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but better result
980 # Download the worst video available (old method)
981 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
983 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
984 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
986 # Download the smallest video available
987 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+br'
991 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
992 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
994 # Download the best video with the best extension
995 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
996 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
1000 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1001 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1002 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1004 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1005 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1006 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
1008 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1009 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1010 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1011 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1012 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
1016 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1017 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1018 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1020 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1021 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1022 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1024 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1025 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1029 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1030 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1031 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1033 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1034 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1035 $ youtube-dlc -S 'proto'
1039 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1040 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1042 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1043 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1044 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1046 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1047 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1048 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1052 # More complex examples
1054 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1055 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1056 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1058 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1059 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1060 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1061 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1065 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1066 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1067 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1068 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1076 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)