# NEW FEATURES
-* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/195f22f](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/195f22f)** <!--([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)
+* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/2dd6c6e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/2dd6c6e)** ([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
* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
-* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
+* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-match-filter` etc
* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
-* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
+* **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
+
+* **Nightly builds**: [Automated nightly builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly`
See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
+* yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.7+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
## UPDATE
-You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
+You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
If you [installed with PIP](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
+<a id="update-channels"/>
+
+There are currently two release channels for binaries, `stable` and `nightly`.
+`stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the nightly channel.
+The `nightly` channel has releases built after each push to the master branch, and will have the most recent fixes and additions, but also have more risk of regressions. They are available in [their own repo](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases).
+
+When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
+This release channel can be changed by using the `--update-to` option. `--update-to` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
+
+Example usage:
+* `yt-dlp --update-to nightly` change to `nightly` channel and update to its latest release
+* `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.02.17` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.02.17`
+* `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.01.06` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.01.06` if it exists on the current channel
<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
## RELEASE FILES
:---|:---
[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
+[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
-<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
+[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
+The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
+Example usage:
+```
+curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
+gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
+gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
+```
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
-**Note**: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
+**Note**: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
## DEPENDENCIES
Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
### Related scripts
-* **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
-* **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
+* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current date.
+* **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
+* **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
* **`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
+Note: See their `--help` for more info.
+
+### Forking the project
+If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
--version Print program version and exit
-U, --update Update this program to the latest version
--no-update Do not check for updates (default)
+ --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
+ CHANNEL and TAG defaults to "stable" and
+ "latest" respectively if omitted; See
+ "UPDATE" for details. Supported channels:
+ stable, nightly
-i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
The download will be considered successful
even if the postprocessing fails
specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
is not present) is used for the actual
downloading
- --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
- X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
- --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
- faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
- --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
- 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
+ --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
+ try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
+ "default" (Only when known to be useful),
+ "never", a two-letter ISO 3166-2 country
+ code, or an IP block in CIDR notation
## Video Selection:
-I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
--date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
[now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
- E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads
- only videos uploaded on the same day two
- weeks ago
+ E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
+ videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
--datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
this date. The date formats accepted is the
same as --date
dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
interactively ask whether to download each
video
- --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
+ --no-match-filter Do not use any --match-filter (default)
+ --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
+ download process when a video is rejected
+ --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
--no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
to a video and a playlist
--yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
--max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
--break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
a file that is in the archive
- --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
- a file that has been filtered out
--break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
- --break-on-reject, and autonumber to reset
- per input URL
+ --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
+ reset per input URL
--no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
terminates the entire download queue
--skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
-q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
print the log to stderr
+ --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
--no-warnings Ignore warnings
-s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
anything to disk
--prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
information about the video (Currently
supported only for YouTube)
- --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
+ --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
separated by a colon ":". You can use this
option multiple times
--bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
-1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
+1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator according to the [`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty. E.g. `%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`, `%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
-<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
+<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"/>
**Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
- `source`: The preference of the source
- `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
- `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
- - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` `ac4` > > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
+ - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
- `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
- `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
- `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
+Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
+
The following extractors use this feature:
#### youtube
* `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
+* `include_duplicate_formats`: Extract formats with identical content but different URLs or protocol. This is useful if some of the formats are unavailable or throttled.
* `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
#### generic
-* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments. Does not apply to ffmpeg
+* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
+* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
+* `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
+* `is_live`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status` - a value of `false` will set `not_live`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live`
#### funimation
* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
ydl.download(URLS)
```
-Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L180).
+Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L184).
**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
--reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
--min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
--max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
+ --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
--user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
--referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
--playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
--youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
--youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
--youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
+ --geo-bypass --xff "default"
+ --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
+ --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
+ --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
#### Developer options