README.md

   1 % YOUTUBE-DL(1)
   2
   3 # NAME
   4 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
   5
   6 # SYNOPSIS
   7 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
   8
   9 # DESCRIPTION
  10 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
  11 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
  12 2.6, 2.7, or 3.3+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
  13 your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
  14 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
  15
  16 # OPTIONS
  17     -h, --help                 print this help text and exit
  18     --version                  print program version and exit
  19     -U, --update               update this program to latest version. Make sure
  20                                that you have sufficient permissions (run with
  21                                sudo if needed)
  22     -i, --ignore-errors        continue on download errors
  23     --dump-user-agent          display the current browser identification
  24     --user-agent UA            specify a custom user agent
  25     --referer REF              specify a custom referer, use if the video access
  26                                is restricted to one domain
  27     --list-extractors          List all supported extractors and the URLs they
  28                                would handle
  29     --extractor-descriptions   Output descriptions of all supported extractors
  30     --proxy URL                Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy
  31     --no-check-certificate     Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
  32
  33 ## Video Selection:
  34     --playlist-start NUMBER    playlist video to start at (default is 1)
  35     --playlist-end NUMBER      playlist video to end at (default is last)
  36     --match-title REGEX        download only matching titles (regex or caseless
  37                                sub-string)
  38     --reject-title REGEX       skip download for matching titles (regex or
  39                                caseless sub-string)
  40     --max-downloads NUMBER     Abort after downloading NUMBER files
  41     --min-filesize SIZE        Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
  42                                (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
  43     --max-filesize SIZE        Do not download any videos larger than SIZE (e.g.
  44                                50k or 44.6m)
  45     --date DATE                download only videos uploaded in this date
  46     --datebefore DATE          download only videos uploaded before this date
  47     --dateafter DATE           download only videos uploaded after this date
  48
  49 ## Download Options:
  50     -r, --rate-limit LIMIT     maximum download rate (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
  51     -R, --retries RETRIES      number of retries (default is 10)
  52     --buffer-size SIZE         size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16k)
  53                                (default is 1024)
  54     --no-resize-buffer         do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
  55                                default, the buffer size is automatically resized
  56                                from an initial value of SIZE.
  57
  58 ## Filesystem Options:
  59     -t, --title                use title in file name (default)
  60     --id                       use only video ID in file name
  61     -l, --literal              [deprecated] alias of --title
  62     -A, --auto-number          number downloaded files starting from 00000
  63     -o, --output TEMPLATE      output filename template. Use %(title)s to get
  64                                the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
  65                                %(uploader_id)s for the uploader nickname if
  66                                different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
  67                                incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename
  68                                extension, %(upload_date)s for the upload date
  69                                (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
  70                                (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
  71                                , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
  72                                %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
  73                                playlist and %% for a literal percent. Use - to
  74                                output to stdout. Can also be used to download to
  75                                a different directory, for example with -o '/my/d
  76                                ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
  77     --autonumber-size NUMBER   Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
  78                                when it is present in output filename template or
  79                                --autonumber option is given
  80     --restrict-filenames       Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
  81                                avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
  82     -a, --batch-file FILE      file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
  83     -w, --no-overwrites        do not overwrite files
  84     -c, --continue             resume partially downloaded files
  85     --no-continue              do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
  86                                from beginning)
  87     --cookies FILE             file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
  88     --no-part                  do not use .part files
  89     --no-mtime                 do not use the Last-modified header to set the
  90                                file modification time
  91     --write-description        write video description to a .description file
  92     --write-info-json          write video metadata to a .info.json file
  93     --write-thumbnail          write thumbnail image to disk
  94
  95 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
  96     -q, --quiet                activates quiet mode
  97     -s, --simulate             do not download the video and do not write
  98                                anything to disk
  99     --skip-download            do not download the video
 100     -g, --get-url              simulate, quiet but print URL
 101     -e, --get-title            simulate, quiet but print title
 102     --get-id                   simulate, quiet but print id
 103     --get-thumbnail            simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
 104     --get-description          simulate, quiet but print video description
 105     --get-filename             simulate, quiet but print output filename
 106     --get-format               simulate, quiet but print output format
 107     --newline                  output progress bar as new lines
 108     --no-progress              do not print progress bar
 109     --console-title            display progress in console titlebar
 110     -v, --verbose              print various debugging information
 111     --dump-intermediate-pages  print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
 112                                verbose)
 113
 114 ## Video Format Options:
 115     -f, --format FORMAT        video format code, specifiy the order of
 116                                preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18". "-f mp4"
 117                                and "-f flv" are also supported
 118     --all-formats              download all available video formats
 119     --prefer-free-formats      prefer free video formats unless a specific one
 120                                is requested
 121     --max-quality FORMAT       highest quality format to download
 122     -F, --list-formats         list all available formats (currently youtube
 123                                only)
 124
 125 ## Subtitle Options:
 126     --write-sub                write subtitle file (currently youtube only)
 127     --write-auto-sub           write automatic subtitle file (currently youtube
 128                                only)
 129     --only-sub                 [deprecated] alias of --skip-download
 130     --all-subs                 downloads all the available subtitles of the
 131                                video
 132     --list-subs                lists all available subtitles for the video
 133     --sub-format FORMAT        subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt] youtube
 134                                only)
 135     --sub-lang LANGS           languages of the subtitles to download (optional)
 136                                separated by commas, use IETF language tags like
 137                                'en,pt'
 138
 139 ## Authentication Options:
 140     -u, --username USERNAME    account username
 141     -p, --password PASSWORD    account password
 142     -n, --netrc                use .netrc authentication data
 143     --video-password PASSWORD  video password (vimeo only)
 144
 145 ## Post-processing Options:
 146     -x, --extract-audio        convert video files to audio-only files (requires
 147                                ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
 148     --audio-format FORMAT      "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or
 149                                "wav"; best by default
 150     --audio-quality QUALITY    ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert
 151                                a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for VBR
 152                                or a specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
 153     --recode-video FORMAT      Encode the video to another format if necessary
 154                                (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
 155     -k, --keep-video           keeps the video file on disk after the post-
 156                                processing; the video is erased by default
 157     --no-post-overwrites       do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-
 158                                processed files are overwritten by default
 159     --embed-subs               embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
 160                                videos)
 161
 162 # CONFIGURATION
 163
 164 You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.config/youtube-dl.conf`.
 165
 166 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
 167
 168 The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format `%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
 169
 170  - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
 171  - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
 172  - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
 173  - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
 174  - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
 175  - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
 176  - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
 177  - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
 178  - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
 179  - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
 180
 181 The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
 182
 183 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:
 184
 185     $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
 186     youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4    # All kinds of weird characters
 187     $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
 188     youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4          # A simple file name
 189
 190 # VIDEO SELECTION
 191
 192 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
 193
 194  - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
 195  - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
 196
 197 Examples:
 198
 199         $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months #will only download the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
 200         $ youtube-dl --date 19700101 #will only download the videos uploaded in January 1, 1970
 201         $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20100101 #will only download the videos uploaded between 2000 and 2010
 202
 203 # FAQ
 204
 205 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
 206
 207 Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the `-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the `-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
 208
 209 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
 210
 211 Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
 212
 213 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
 214
 215 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
 216
 217 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
 218
 219 The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use `--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
 220
 221 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
 222
 223 youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
 224
 225 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
 226
 227 youtube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
 228
 229 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
 230
 231 The error
 232
 233     File "youtube-dl", line 2
 234     SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
 235
 236 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
 237
 238 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
 239
 240 Since June 2012 (#342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to `youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the `__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run `make youtube-dl`.
 241
 242 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
 243
 244 To run the exe you need to install first the [Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
 245
 246 # COPYRIGHT
 247
 248 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
 249
 250 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
 251
 252 # BUGS
 253
 254 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
 255
 256 Please include:
 257
 258 * Your exact command line, like `youtube-dl -t "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlDtZ6Oc3s&feature=channel_video_title"`. A common mistake is not to escape the `&`. Putting URLs in quotes should solve this problem.
 259 * If possible re-run the command with `--verbose`, and include the full output, it is really helpful to us.
 260 * The output of `youtube-dl --version`
 261 * The output of `python --version`
 262 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).
 263
 264 For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.