# NEW FEATURES
-* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
+* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/a03b977](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/a03b9775d544b06a5b4f2aa630214c7c22fc2229)**<!--([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
-* **Youtube improvements**:
- * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
- * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
- * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
- * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
- * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
+* **YouTube improvements**:
+ * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
+ * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
+ * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
+ * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
+ * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
* Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
- * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
- * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
- * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
- * Support for downloading stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
+* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
+
* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
-* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
+* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
+Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
+
### Differences in default behavior
Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
-* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
+* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
-* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use only system certificates, use `--compat-options no-certifi`
-* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
+* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
+* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpful, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
```
-Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
+On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
File|Description
:---|:---
-[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
+[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
-[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
+[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
#### Alternatives
File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
-[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi`, needs VC++14
+[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
+[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
+[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
+[yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
#### Misc
<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
## DEPENDENCIES
-Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
+Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
+### Strongly recommended
+
* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
-* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
-* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
-* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
-* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
-* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
+
+ <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
+ **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
+
+### Networking
* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
-* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
-* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
-* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
-* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
+* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
+* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
+
+### Metadata
+
+* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
+* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
+* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
+
+### Misc
+
+* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
-* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
+* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
+#### Deprecated
+
+* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
+* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
+* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
+* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
+
To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
-The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
+The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
-<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
-**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
+If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
## COMPILE
-**For Windows**:
-To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
+### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
+To build the Windows/MacOS executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the Python used.
- py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
- py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
- py pyinst.py
+ python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
+ python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
+ python3 pyinst.py
-Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
+On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
-**For Unix**:
-You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
-Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
+Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
-**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
+**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
-You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
+### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
+You will need the build tools `python` (3.6+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
+
+After installing these, simply run `make`.
+
+You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The dependencies marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
+
+### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
+
+While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
+
+If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
+
+ py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
+ py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
+ py setup.py py2exe
+
+### Related scripts
+
+* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current timestamp
+* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
+
+You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
-h, --help Print this help text and exit
--version Print program version and exit
-U, --update Update this program to latest version
+ --no-update Do not update (default)
-i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
The download will be considered successful
even if the postprocessing fails
--list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
--extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
extractors and exit
- --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
- extractor
+ --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic extractor
--default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
"gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
google videos for the search term "python".
--no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
--mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
--no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
- --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
+ --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
+ --no-colours)
--compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
configurations by reverting some of the
"-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
All defined aliases are listed in the --help
output. Alias options can trigger more
- aliases; so be carefull to avoid defining
+ aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
recursive options. As a safety measure, each
alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
- times. This option can be used multiple
- times
+ times. This option can be used multiple times
## Network Options:
--proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
country code
--geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
- explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
- notation
+ explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
## Video Selection:
- --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
- --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
- --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
- indices of the videos in the playlist
- separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
- 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
- indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
- specify range: "--playlist-items
- 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos at
- index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
+ -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
+ to download. You can specify a range using
+ "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
+ compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
+ Use negative indices to count from the right
+ and negative STEP to download in reverse
+ order. Eg: "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
+ playlist of size 15 will download the videos
+ at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
--min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
(e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
--max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
(experimental)
- --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
- --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
- (default)
--playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
+ --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
+ received. This disables n_entries,
+ --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
+ --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
+ the entire playlist is parsed (default)
--xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
expected file size
--hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
--no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
videos. This is default when not downloading
live streams
+ --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
+ the given regular expression. Time ranges
+ prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
+ of chapters to download the specified range.
+ Eg: --download-sections "*10:15-15:00"
+ --download-sections "intro". Needs ffmpeg.
+ This option can be used multiple times to
+ download multiple sections
--downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
(http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
modification time (default)
--no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
the file modification time
- --write-description Write video description to a .description
- file
+ --write-description Write video description to a .description file
--no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
--write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
(this may contain personal information)
extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
--no-get-comments)
--load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
- (created with the "--write-info-json"
- option)
+ (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
--cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
and dump cookie jar in
--no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
be (optionally) specified after the browser
name separated by a "+". Currently supported
- keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring,
- kwallet
+ keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring, kwallet
--no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
--cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
can store some downloaded information (such
## Thumbnail Options:
--write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
- --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
- (default)
+ --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
--write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
--list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
(requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
used. (currently supported: best (default),
- mp3, aac, m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav)
+ aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
+ wav). You can specify multiple rules using
+ similar syntax as --remux-video
--audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
--remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
- necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
- flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, mp3, aac,
- m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav). If
+ necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
+ mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac, flac,
+ m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis, wav). If
target container does not support the
video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
can specify multiple rules; Eg.
otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
already exists)
--ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
- path to the binary or its containing
- directory
+ path to the binary or its containing directory
--exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
when to execute it (after_move if
unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
be used multiple times
--no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
--convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
- (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
+ (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
(Alias: --convert-subtitles)
--convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
(currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
the output filename for the split files. See
"OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
- --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
- (default)
+ --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
--remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
- given regular expression. Time ranges
- prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
- of chapters to remove the specified range.
- Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
- --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
+ given regular expression. The syntax is the
+ same as --download-sections. This option can
be used multiple times
--no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
(default)
- --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around chapters when
- removing/splitting them. This is slow due to
- needing a re-encode, but the resulting video
- may have fewer artifacts around the cuts
+ --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
+ downloading/splitting/removing sections.
+ This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
+ the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
+ around the cuts
--no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
when cutting/splitting (default)
--use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
(after downloading and processing all
formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
of playlist). This option can be used
- multiple times to add different
- postprocessors
+ multiple times to add different postprocessors
## SponsorBlock Options:
Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
+### Config file encoding
+
+The config files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
+
+If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
+
### Authentication with `.netrc` file
You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
-1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
+1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
- `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
- `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
+ - `stretched_ratio` (float): `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
- `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
- `container` (string): Name of the container format
- `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
- `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
- `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
-Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
+Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
- `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
- `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
# handling multiple lines correctly
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
+# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
+$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
+
# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
The following extractors use this feature:
#### youtube
-* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
-* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but tv_embedded and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
+* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
+* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`
* E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
+* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests
+ * e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`
+ * Note: Cookies exported from `www.youtube.com` will not work with hosts other than `*.youtube.com`
+* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
- ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
+ # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
+ ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
ydl.download(URLS)
```
--max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
--user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
--referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
+ --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
+ --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
+ --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
+ --no-playlist-reverse Default
#### Not recommended