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7 youtube-dlc - download videos from youtube.com and many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md)
9 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)
11 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
12 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
15 * [YOUTUBE-DLC](#youtube-dlc)
16 * [DESCRIPTION](#description)
18 * [Network Options](#network-options)
19 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
20 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
21 * [Download Options](#download-options)
22 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
23 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
24 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
25 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
26 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
27 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
28 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
29 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
30 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
31 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
32 * [SponSkrub Options (SponsorBlock)](#sponSkrub-options-sponsorblock)
33 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
34 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
35 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
36 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
37 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
38 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
39 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
40 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
41 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
42 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
43 * [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection-
1)
48 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
50 * **
[SponSkrub Integration](#sponSkrub-options-sponsorblock)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the
[SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
52 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-format)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now prefered 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 **v2020.01
.08**: 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)
56 * **Youtube improvements**:
57 * All Youtube Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) work 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**: AnimeLab, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv
63 * **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, tiktok, akamai, ina
65 * **New options**:
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive` etc
67 and many other features and patches. See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/commits) for the full list of changes
70 **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
72 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.
77 To use the latest version, simply download and run the
[latest release](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/releases/latest).
78 Currently, there is no support for any package managers.
80 If you want to install the current master branch
82 python -m pip install git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc
85 **DO NOT UPDATE using
`-U` !** instead download binaries again
90 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
92 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
93 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
95 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
96 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
98 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
99 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
102 You will need the required build tools
103 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
104 Then simply type this
110 **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.
112 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
116 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
117 <!-- Autogenerated -->
120 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
121 --version Print program version and exit
122 -U, --update [BROKEN] Update this program to latest
123 version. Make sure that you have sufficient
124 permissions (run with sudo if needed)
125 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
126 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
127 (default) (Same as --no-abort-on-error)
128 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
129 error occurs (Same as --no-ignore-errors)
130 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
131 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
132 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
134 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
136 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
137 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
138 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
139 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
140 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
141 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
142 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
143 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
144 this is not possible instead of searching.
145 --ignore-config, --no-config Do not read configuration files. When given
146 in the global configuration file
147 /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
148 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
149 dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
151 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
152 the path to the config or its containing
154 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
156 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
157 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
158 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
159 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched
160 --no-color Do not emit color codes in output
163 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
164 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
166 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
167 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
168 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
169 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
170 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
171 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
174 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
175 some geo-restricted sites. The default
176 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
177 option is not present) is used for the
179 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
180 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
181 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
182 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
183 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
184 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
186 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
187 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
191 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
192 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
193 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
194 indices of the videos in the playlist
195 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
196 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
197 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
198 specify range: "--playlist-items
199 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
200 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13.
201 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
203 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
205 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
206 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
207 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
208 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
210 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
211 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
212 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
213 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
214 this date. The date formats accepted is the
216 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
217 this date. The date formats accepted is the
219 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
221 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
223 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
224 the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of
225 available keys) to match if the key is
226 present, !key to check if the key is not
227 present, key > NUMBER (like "comment_count
228 > 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
229 compare against a number, key = 'LITERAL'
230 (like "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works
231 with !=) to match against a string literal
232 and & to require multiple matches. Values
233 which are not known are excluded unless you
234 put a question mark (?) after the operator.
235 For example, to only match videos that have
236 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
237 less than
50 times (or the dislike
238 functionality is not available at the given
239 service), but who also have a description,
240 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
241 dislike_count <?
50 & description" .
242 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
243 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
244 to a video and a playlist.
245 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
246 a video and a playlist.
247 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
249 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
250 archive file. Record the IDs of all
251 downloaded videos in it.
252 --break-on-existing Stop the download process after attempting
253 to download a file that's in the archive.
254 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
255 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
257 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
260 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
262 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
264 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
265 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
267 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
268 hlsnative and ISM (default)
269 (Same as --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
270 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
271 (Same as --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
272 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
273 downloading is finished
274 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
275 downloading is finished (default)
276 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
278 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
279 from an initial value of --buffer-size
281 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
282 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
283 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
284 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
285 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
287 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
288 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
290 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
291 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
293 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
295 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
297 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
298 allowing to play the video while
299 downloading (some players may not be able
301 --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
303 aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
304 --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
307 ## Filesystem Options:
308 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
309 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
310 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
311 comments and ignored.
312 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see the "OUTPUT
313 TEMPLATE" for details
314 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
316 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
317 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
319 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
321 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
322 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files (default)
323 --no-continue Restart download of partially downloaded
325 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
326 into output file (default)
327 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
329 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
330 file modification time (default)
331 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
332 the file modification time
333 --write-description Write video description to a .description
335 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
336 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
337 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
338 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
339 .annotations.xml file
340 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
341 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
342 (created with the "--write-info-json"
344 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
346 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
347 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
348 can store some downloaded information
349 permanently. By default
350 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
351 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
352 YouTube player files (for videos with
353 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
355 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
356 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
357 --trim-file-name LENGTH Limit the filename length (extension
361 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
362 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
364 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
365 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
368 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
369 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending on
370 the current platform (.url/.webloc/.desktop).
371 The URL may be cached by the OS.
372 --write-url-link Write a Windows .url internet shortcut file.
373 (The OS caches the URL based on the file path)
374 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut file
375 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut file
377 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
378 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
379 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
380 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
382 --skip-download Do not download the video
383 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
384 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
385 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
386 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
387 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
388 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
389 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
390 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
391 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
392 See the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description
394 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
395 for each command-line argument. If the URL
396 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
397 playlist information in a single line.
398 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
399 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
400 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
401 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
402 another simulation switch is used.
403 (Same as --force-download-archive)
404 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
405 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
406 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
407 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
408 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
409 to debug problems (very verbose)
410 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
411 files in the current directory to debug
413 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
414 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dlc server for debugging
415 --no-call-home Do not contact the youtube-dlc server for
419 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
420 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
421 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
422 information about the video. (Currently
423 supported only for YouTube)
424 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
425 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
426 access is restricted to one domain
427 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
428 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
429 option multiple times
430 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
431 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
432 or fribidi executable in PATH
433 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
434 download when used alone or a lower bound
435 of a range for randomized sleep before each
436 download (minimum possible number of
437 seconds to sleep) when used along with
438 --max-sleep-interval.
439 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
440 before each download (maximum possible
441 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
442 used along with --min-sleep-interval.
443 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well
445 ## Video Format Options:
446 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
448 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
449 "Sorting Formats" for more details
450 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
451 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
452 Formats" for more details
453 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
454 specified sort order (default), see
455 "Sorting Formats" for more details
456 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
458 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
459 each output file (default)
460 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
462 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
463 each output file (default)
464 --all-formats Download all available video formats
465 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats over non-free
466 formats of same quality
467 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
469 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in a more tabular
471 (Same as --no-list-formats-as-table)
472 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
473 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related data
474 on YouTube videos (default)
475 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
476 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
477 related data on YouTube videos
478 (Same as --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
479 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
480 on YouTube videos (default)
481 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
482 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
483 related data on YouTube videos
484 (Same as --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
485 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
486 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
487 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
488 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
491 --write-subs Write subtitle file
492 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
493 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
495 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write automatically generated
496 subtitle file (default)
497 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
499 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
500 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
501 preference, for example: "srt" or
503 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
504 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
505 subs for available language tags
507 ## Authentication Options:
508 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
509 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
510 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively.
511 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
512 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
513 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
515 ## Adobe Pass Options:
516 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
517 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
518 a list of available MSOs
519 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
520 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
521 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
522 will ask interactively.
523 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
526 ## Post-Processing Options:
527 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
528 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
530 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
531 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
532 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
534 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
535 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
536 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
538 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
539 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv).
540 If target container does not support the
541 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail
542 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
543 re-encoding is necessary (currently
544 supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
545 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
546 Specify the postprocessor name and the
547 arguments separated by a colon ':' to give
548 the argument to only the specified
549 postprocessor. Supported names are
550 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
551 EmbedSubtitle, Metadata, Merger,
552 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
553 SubtitlesConvertor, SponSkrub and Default.
554 You can use this option multiple times to
555 give different arguments to different
557 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
558 after post-processing
559 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
560 post-processing (default)
561 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
562 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
563 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
565 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
566 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
567 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
568 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
569 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
570 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
571 artist from the video title. The format
572 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
573 expression with named capture groups may
574 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
575 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
576 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
577 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
578 (regex): --metadata-from-title
579 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
580 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
581 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
582 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
583 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
584 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
585 default; fix file if we can, warn
587 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
588 postprocessors (Same as --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
589 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
590 postprocessors (default)
591 (Same as --no-prefer-avconv)
592 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
593 either the path to the binary or its
594 containing directory.
595 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
596 downloading and post-processing, similar to
597 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
598 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
599 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
600 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
602 ## [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) Options ([SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app)):
603 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections
604 with the data available in SponsorBlock
605 API. This is enabled by default if the
606 sponskrub binary exists (Youtube only)
607 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
608 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
610 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
612 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
614 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
615 video was already downloaded (default)
616 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
617 the path to the binary or its containing
620 ## Extractor Options:
621 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
622 (Same as --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
623 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
624 (Same as --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
628 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.
630 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:
632 # Lines starting with # are comments
634 # Always extract audio
637 # Do not copy the mtime
641 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
643 # Save all videos under Movies directory in your home directory
644 -o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
647 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`.
649 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
651 You can also use
`--config-location` if you want to use custom configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
653 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
655 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:
658 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
660 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
662 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
666 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
667 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
669 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
671 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
673 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
678 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
680 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
682 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:
684 - `id` (string): Video identifier
685 - `title` (string): Video title
686 - `url` (string): Video URL
687 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
688 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
689 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
690 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
691 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
692 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
693 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
694 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
695 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
696 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
697 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
698 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
699 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
700 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
701 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
702 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
703 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
704 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
705 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
706 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
707 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
708 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
709 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
710 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
711 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
712 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
713 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
714 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
715 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
716 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
717 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
718 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
719 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
720 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
721 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
722 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
723 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
724 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
725 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
726 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
727 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
728 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
729 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
730 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
731 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
732 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
733 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
734 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
735 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
736 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
737 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
738 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
740 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
742 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
743 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
744 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
746 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
748 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
749 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
750 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
751 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
752 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
753 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
754 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
756 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
758 - `track` (string): Title of the track
759 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
760 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
761 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
762 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
763 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
764 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
765 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
766 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
767 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
769 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`.
771 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.
773 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`.
775 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.
777 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
779 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
781 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:
783 #### Output template and Windows batch files
785 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"`.
787 #### Output template examples
789 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
792 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
793 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
795 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
796 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
798 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
799 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
801 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
802 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
804 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
805 $ 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/
807 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
808 $ 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
810 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
811 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
816 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
817 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`.
819 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.
821 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
823 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.
825 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.
827 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
829 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
830 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
831 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
832 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
833 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
834 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
835 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
836 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
837 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
838 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
839 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
840 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
842 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.
844 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.
846 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`.
848 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`.
852 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
854 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
856 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
857 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
858 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
859 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
860 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
861 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
862 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
865 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
867 - `ext`: File extension
868 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
869 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
870 - `container`: Name of the container format
871 - `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`)
872 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
873 - `language`: Language code
875 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
877 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.
879 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.
881 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]'`.
885 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:
887 - `video`,
`has_video`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
888 - `audio`,
`has_audio`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
889 - `extractor`,
`preference`,
`extractor_preference`: The format preference as given by the extractor
890 - `lang`,
`language_preference`: Language preference as given by the extractor
891 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
892 - `source`,
`source_preference`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
893 - `proto`,
`protocol`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
894 - `vcodec`,
`video_codec`: Video Codec (
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
895 - `acodec`,
`audio_codec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
896 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
897 - `vext`,
`video_ext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
898 - `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`.
899 - `ext`,
`extension`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
900 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
901 - `filesize_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
902 - `size`,
`filesize_estimate`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
903 - `height`: Height of video
904 - `width`: Width of video
905 - `res`,
`dimension`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
906 - `fps`,
`framerate`: Framerate of video
907 - `tbr`,
`total_bitrate`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
908 - `vbr`,
`video_bitrate`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
909 - `abr`,
`audio_bitrate`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
910 - `br`,
`bitrate`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
911 - `samplerate`,
`asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
913 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.
915 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.
917 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`.
919 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
921 ## Format Selection examples
923 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
926 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
927 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
928 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
930 # Download best format that contains video,
931 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
932 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
937 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
938 # For this case, an output template should be used since
939 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
944 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
945 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but better result
947 # Download the worst video available (old method)
948 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
950 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
951 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
953 # Download the smallest video available
954 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+bitrate'
958 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
959 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
961 # Download the best video with the best extension
962 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
963 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
967 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
968 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
969 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
971 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
972 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
973 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
975 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
976 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
977 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
978 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
979 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
983 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
984 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
985 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
987 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
988 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
989 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
991 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
992 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
996 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
997 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
998 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1000 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1001 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1002 $ youtube-dlc -S 'protocol'
1006 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1007 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1009 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1010 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1011 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1013 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1014 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1015 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1019 # More complex examples
1021 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1022 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1023 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1025 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1026 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1027 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1028 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1032 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1033 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1034 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1035 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1043 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)