[](#readme)
-[](#release-files "Release")
-[](LICENSE "License")
+[](#release-files "Release")
+[](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
[](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
-[](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/ "Docs")
+[](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
+[](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
[](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
-[](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
+[](LICENSE "License")
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
-[](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
-[](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
+ * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
* [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
# NEW FEATURES
-* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/5014bd6](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/5014bd67c22b421207b2650d4dc874b95b36dda1)** 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
* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
-* **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 improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
+* **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`) 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)
* **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
* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
-* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
+* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
* **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 `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--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-on-reject` etc
-* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--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
+* **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
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:
* 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
* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
-* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
+* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
* `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 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:
-* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
+
+* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
-[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
+[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
+[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
[](#release-files)
-[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
+[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
<!-- 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)
If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
```
-python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip
+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 **UNIX-like systems**)
+[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)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
#### Alternatives
File|Description
:---|:---
-[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
[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`, 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 [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
-* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](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](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
-* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. 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)
-* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD3](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)
+
+ <!-- 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)
+* [**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)
+* [**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 already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
+The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
-**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 optionally mutagen, pycryptodomex, websockets). 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
+
+On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
+
+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.
+
+**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
-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
+### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
+You will need the build tools `python` (3.6+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
-**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
+After installing these, simply run `make`.
-**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
+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)
-You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
+### 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
<!-- Auto generated -->
## General Options:
- -h, --help Print this help text and exit
- --version Print program version and exit
- -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
- sure that you have sufficient permissions
- (run with sudo if needed)
- -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
- The download will be considered successful
- even if the postprocessing fails
- --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
- errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
- a playlist (default)
- --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
- error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
- --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
- --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
- --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
- example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
- from google videos for the search term
- "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
- yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
- warning when guessing). "error" just throws
- an error. The default value "fixup_error"
- repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
- this is not possible instead of searching
- --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
- except those given by --config-locations.
- For backward compatibility, if this option
- is found inside the system configuration
- file, the user configuration is not loaded.
- (Alias: --no-config)
- --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
- (default). When given inside a
- configuration file, ignore all previous
- --config-locations defined in the current
- file
- --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
- either the path to the config or its
- containing directory. Can be used multiple
- times and inside other configuration files
- --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
- only list them
- --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
- --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
- Currently only supported for YouTube
- (Experimental)
- --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
- (default)
- --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
- available. Pass the minimum number of
- seconds (or range) to wait between retries
- --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
- --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
- Currently only supported for YouTube
- --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
- --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
- --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
- with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
- configurations by reverting some of the
- changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
- default behavior" for details
+ -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
+ --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
+ e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
+ playlist (default)
+ --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
+ error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
+ --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
+ --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
+ --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
+ "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
+ google videos for the search term "python".
+ Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
+ ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
+ guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
+ default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
+ URLs, but emits an error if this is not
+ possible instead of searching
+ --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
+ except those given by --config-locations.
+ For backward compatibility, if this option
+ is found inside the system configuration
+ file, the user configuration is not loaded.
+ (Alias: --no-config)
+ --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
+ (default). When given inside a configuration
+ file, ignore all previous --config-locations
+ defined in the current file
+ --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
+ either the path to the config or its
+ containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
+ used multiple times and inside other
+ configuration files
+ --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
+ only list them
+ --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
+ --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
+ Currently only supported for YouTube
+ (Experimental)
+ --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
+ (default)
+ --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
+ available. Pass the minimum number of
+ seconds (or range) to wait between retries
+ --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 (Alias:
+ --no-colours)
+ --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
+ with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
+ configurations by reverting some of the
+ changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
+ default behavior" for details
+ --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
+ an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
+ prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
+ according to the Python string formatting
+ mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
+ "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
+ creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
+ takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
+ "-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 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
## Network Options:
- --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
- To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
- scheme. For example
- socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
- an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
- connection
- --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
- --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
- -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
- -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
+ --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
+ enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
+ Eg: socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass
+ in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
+ connection
+ --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
+ --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
+ -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
+ -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
## Geo-restriction:
- --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
- some geo-restricted sites. The default
- proxy 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
- --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
+ --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
+ some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
+ 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
## 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
- --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
- (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
- --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
- The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
- "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
- --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
- this date. The date formats accepted is the
- same as --date
- --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
- this date. The date formats accepted is the
- same as --date
- --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
- "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
- number or a string using the operators
- defined in "Filtering formats". You can
- also simply specify a field to match if the
- field is present and "!field" to check if
- the field is not present. In addition,
- Python style regular expression matching
- can be done using "~=", and multiple
- filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
- to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
- --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
- & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
- matches only videos that are not live, has
- a like count more than 100 (or the like
- field is not available), and also has a
- description that contains the phrase "cats
- & dogs" (ignoring case)
- --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (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
- a video and a playlist
- --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
- age
- --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
- archive file. Record the IDs of all
- downloaded videos in it
- --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
- --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 Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
- reject act only on the current input URL
- --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
- terminates the entire download queue
- --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
- of the playlist is skipped
+ -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
+ (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
+ --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]].
+ Eg: --date today-2weeks
+ --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
+ this date. The date formats accepted is the
+ same as --date
+ --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
+ this date. The date formats accepted is the
+ same as --date
+ --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
+ field can be compared with a number or a
+ string using the operators defined in
+ "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
+ specify a field to match if the field is
+ present, use "!field" to check if the field
+ is not present, and "&" to check multiple
+ conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
+ quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
+ the filter matches if atleast one of the
+ conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
+ !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
+ description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
+ only videos that are not live OR those that
+ have a like count more than 100 (or the like
+ field is not available) and also has a
+ description that contains the phrase "cats &
+ dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
+ interactively ask whether to download each
+ video
+ --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (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
+ a video and a playlist
+ --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
+ age
+ --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
+ archive file. Record the IDs of all
+ downloaded videos in it
+ --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
+ --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 Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
+ and --max-downloads act only on the current
+ 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
+ the playlist is skipped
## Download Options:
- -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
- video that should be downloaded
- concurrently (default is 1)
- -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
- (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
- --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
- below which throttling is assumed and the
- video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
- -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
- "infinite"
- --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
- error (default is 10), or "infinite"
- --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
- is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
- ISM)
- --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
- hlsnative and ISM (default)
- (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
- --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
- (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
- --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
- downloading is finished
- --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
- downloading is finished (default)
- --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
- (default is 1024)
- --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
- from an initial value of --buffer-size
- (default)
- --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
- --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
- downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
- 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
- --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
- expected file size
- --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
- allowing some players to play the video
- while downloading, and reducing the chance
- of file corruption if download is
- interrupted. This is enabled by default for
- live streams
- --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
- videos. This is default when not
- downloading live streams
- --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
- use it for. Currently supports native,
- aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
- wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
- this option multiple times to set different
- downloaders for different protocols. For
- example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
- "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
- http/ftp downloads, and the native
- downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
- --external-downloader)
- --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
- downloader. Specify the downloader name and
- the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
- ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
- different positions using the same syntax
- as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
- option multiple times to give different
- arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
- --external-downloader-args)
+ -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
+ video that should be downloaded concurrently
+ (default is 1)
+ -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
+ (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
+ --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
+ below which throttling is assumed and the
+ video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
+ -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
+ "infinite"
+ --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
+ error (default is 3), or "infinite"
+ --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
+ 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
+ --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
+ retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
+ the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
+ http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
+ can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]]
+ or exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can
+ be used multiple times to set the sleep for
+ the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
+ linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
+ --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
+ hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
+ (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
+ --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
+ Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
+ (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
+ --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
+ downloading is finished
+ --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
+ downloading is finished (default)
+ --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
+ (default is 1024)
+ --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
+ from an initial value of --buffer-size
+ (default)
+ --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
+ --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
+ downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
+ is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
+ bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
+ (experimental)
+ --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;
+ allowing some players to play the video
+ while downloading, and reducing the chance
+ of file corruption if download is
+ interrupted. This is enabled by default for
+ live streams
+ --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
+ use it for. Currently supports native,
+ aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
+ wget. You can use this option multiple times
+ to set different downloaders for different
+ protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
+ --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
+ aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
+ native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
+ (Alias: --external-downloader)
+ --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
+ downloader. Specify the downloader name and
+ the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
+ ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
+ positions using the same syntax as
+ --postprocessor-args. You can use this
+ option multiple times to give different
+ arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
+ --external-downloader-args)
## Filesystem Options:
- -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
- stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
- with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
- comments and ignored
- --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
- -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
- downloaded. Specify the type of file and
- the path separated by a colon ":". All the
- same TYPES as --output are supported.
- Additionally, you can also provide "home"
- (default) and "temp" paths. All
- intermediary files are first downloaded to
- the temp path and then the final files are
- moved over to the home path after download
- is finished. This option is ignored if
- --output is an absolute path
- -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
- TEMPLATE" for details
- --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
- fields in output filename template
- (default: "NA")
- --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
- characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
- filenames
- --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
- filenames (default)
- --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
- --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
- using Windows (default)
- --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
- extension) to the specified number of
- characters
- -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
- --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
- This option includes --no-continue
- --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
- related files (default)
- -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
- (default)
- --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
- fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
- restart download of the entire file
- --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
- into output file (default)
- --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
- into output file
- --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
- file 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
- --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)
- --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
- --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
- video metadata when using --write-info-json,
- --write-description etc. (default)
- --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
- --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
- --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
- filenames from the infojson. Note that it
- could still contain some personal
- information (default)
- --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
- --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
- infojson. The comments are fetched even
- without this option if the extraction is
- known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
- --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
- 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)
- --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
- from and dump cookie jar in
- --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
- (default)
+ -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
+ stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
+ with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
+ comments and ignored
+ --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
+ -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
+ downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
+ path separated by a colon ":". All the same
+ TYPES as --output are supported.
+ Additionally, you can also provide "home"
+ (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
+ files are first downloaded to the temp path
+ and then the final files are moved over to
+ the home path after download is finished.
+ This option is ignored if --output is an
+ absolute path
+ -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
+ TEMPLATE" for details
+ --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
+ "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
+ --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
+ and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
+ --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
+ filenames (default)
+ --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
+ --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
+ using Windows (default)
+ --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
+ extension) to the specified number of
+ characters
+ -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
+ --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
+ option includes --no-continue
+ --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
+ related files (default)
+ -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
+ (default)
+ --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
+ fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
+ restart download of the entire file
+ --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
+ into output file (default)
+ --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
+ output file
+ --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
+ 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
+ --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)
+ --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
+ --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
+ video metadata when using --write-info-json,
+ --write-description etc. (default)
+ --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
+ --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
+ --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
+ from the infojson. Note that it could still
+ contain some personal information (default)
+ --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
+ --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
+ infojson. The comments are fetched even
+ without this option if the extraction is
+ known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
+ --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
+ 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)
+ --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
+ and dump cookie jar in
+ --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
+ (default)
--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
- The name of the browser and (optionally)
- the name/path of the profile to load
- cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
- supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
- chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
- vivaldi. By default, the most recently
- accessed profile is used. The keyring used
- for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
- can be (optionally) specified after the
- browser name separated by a "+". Currently
- supported 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
- as client ids and signatures) permanently.
- By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
- ~/.cache/yt-dlp
- --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
- --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
+ The name of the browser and (optionally) the
+ name/path of the profile to load cookies
+ from, separated by a ":". Currently
+ supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
+ chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
+ vivaldi. By default, the most recently
+ accessed profile is used. The keyring used
+ for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
+ be (optionally) specified after the browser
+ name separated by a "+". Currently supported
+ 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
+ as client ids and signatures) permanently.
+ By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
+ ~/.cache/yt-dlp
+ --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
+ --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
## Thumbnail Options:
- --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
- --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
+ --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
+ --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
## Internet Shortcut Options:
- --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
- on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
- .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
- --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
- OS caches the URL based on the file path
- --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
- --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
+ --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
+ on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
+ .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
+ --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
+ OS caches the URL based on the file path
+ --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
+ --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
- -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
- --verbose, print the log to stderr
- --no-warnings Ignore warnings
- -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
- anything to disk
- --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
- options are used
- --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
- extracting metadata even if the videos are
- not actually available for download
- (experimental)
- --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
- formats are found (default)
- --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
- related files (Alias: --no-download)
- -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
- screen, optionally prefixed with when to
- print it, separated by a ":". Supported
- values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
- --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
- Implies --quiet and --simulate (unless
- --no-simulate is used). This option can be
- used multiple times
+ -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
+ print the log to stderr
+ --no-warnings Ignore warnings
+ -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
+ anything to disk
+ --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
+ options are used
+ --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
+ extracting metadata even if the videos are
+ not actually available for download
+ (experimental)
+ --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
+ formats are found (default)
+ --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
+ related files (Alias: --no-download)
+ -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
+ screen, optionally prefixed with when to
+ print it, separated by a ":". Supported
+ values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
+ --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
+ Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
+ --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
+ used. This option can be used multiple times
--print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
- Append given template to the file. The
- values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
- that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
- as the output template. This option can be
- used multiple times
- -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
- video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
- used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
- description of available keys
- -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
- url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
- --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
- a playlist, the whole playlist information
- is dumped in a single line
- --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
- written as far as no errors occur, even if
- -s or another simulation option is used
- (Alias: --force-download-archive)
- --newline Output progress bar as new lines
- --no-progress Do not print progress bar
- --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
- --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
+ Append given template to the file. The
+ values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
+ of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
+ output template. This option can be used
+ multiple times
+ -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
+ video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
+ used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
+ description of available keys
+ -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
+ url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
+ --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
+ a playlist, the whole playlist information
+ is dumped in a single line
+ --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
+ as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
+ another simulation option is used (Alias:
+ --force-download-archive)
+ --newline Output progress bar as new lines
+ --no-progress Do not print progress bar
+ --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
+ --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
--progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
- Template for progress outputs, optionally
- prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
- "download-title:" (the console title),
- "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
- The video's fields are accessible under the
- "info" key and the progress attributes are
- accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
- --console-title --progress-template
- "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
- -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
- --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
- to debug problems (very verbose)
- --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
- files in the current directory to debug
- problems
- --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
+ Template for progress outputs, optionally
+ prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
+ "download-title:" (the console title),
+ "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
+ The video's fields are accessible under the
+ "info" key and the progress attributes are
+ accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
+ --console-title --progress-template
+ "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
+ -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
+ --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
+ to debug problems (very verbose)
+ --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
+ in the current directory to debug problems
+ --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
## Workarounds:
- --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
- --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
- servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
- renegotiation
- --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
- --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
- information about the video (Currently
- supported only for YouTube)
- --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
- --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
- access is restricted to one domain
- --add-header 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
- bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
- or fribidi executable in PATH
- --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
- during data extraction
- --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
- download. This is the minimum time to sleep
- when used along with --max-sleep-interval
- (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
- --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
- only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
- --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
- subtitle download
+ --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
+ --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
+ that do not support RFC 5746 secure
+ renegotiation
+ --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
+ --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,
+ separated by a colon ":". You can use this
+ option multiple times
+ --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
+ bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
+ or fribidi executable in PATH
+ --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
+ during data extraction
+ --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
+ download. This is the minimum time to sleep
+ when used along with --max-sleep-interval
+ (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
+ --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
+ be used along with --min-sleep-interval
+ --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
+ subtitle download
## Video Format Options:
- -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
- for more details
- -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
- "Sorting Formats" for more details
- --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
- precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
- Formats" for more details
- --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
- specified sort order (default), see
- "Sorting Formats" for more details
- --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
- into a single file
- --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
- each output file (default)
- --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
- into a single file
- --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
- each output file (default)
- --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
- over non-free ones of same quality. Use
- with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
- containers irrespective of quality
- --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
- containers (default)
- --check-formats Check that the selected formats are
- actually downloadable
- --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
- actually downloadable
- --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
- downloadable
- -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
- Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
- --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
- bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
- container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
- webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
+ -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
+ for more details
+ -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
+ "Sorting Formats" for more details
+ --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
+ precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
+ Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
+ --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
+ specified sort order (default)
+ --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
+ into a single file
+ --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
+ output file (default)
+ --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
+ into a single file
+ --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
+ output file (default)
+ --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
+ over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
+ "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
+ irrespective of quality
+ --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
+ containers (default)
+ --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
+ those that are actually downloadable
+ --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
+ actually downloadable
+ --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
+ downloadable
+ -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
+ Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
+ --merge-output-format FORMAT Container to use when merging formats (e.g.
+ bestvideo+bestaudio). Ignored if no merge is
+ required. (currently supported: avi, flv,
+ mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
## Subtitle Options:
- --write-subs Write subtitle file
- --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
- --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
- (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
- --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
- (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
- --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
- Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
- --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
- preference, for example: "srt" or
- "ass/srt/best"
- --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
- be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
- (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
- the language code with a "-" to exempt it
- from the requested languages. (Eg:
- --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
- for a list of available language tags
+ --write-subs Write subtitle file
+ --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
+ --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
+ (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
+ --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
+ (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
+ --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
+ Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
+ --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
+ Eg: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
+ --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
+ be regex) or "all" separated by commas. (Eg:
+ --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix the
+ language code with a "-" to exclude it from
+ the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-langs
+ all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a list
+ of available language tags
## Authentication Options:
- -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
- -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
- out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
- -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
- -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
- --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
- either the path or its containing
- directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
- --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
- --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
- provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
- a list of available MSOs
- --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
- --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
- If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
- interactively
- --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
- operators
+ -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
+ -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
+ out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
+ -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
+ -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
+ --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
+ either the path or its containing directory.
+ Defaults to ~/.netrc
+ --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
+ --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
+ provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
+ a list of available MSOs
+ --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
+ --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
+ If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
+ interactively
+ --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
+ --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
+ format. May include the private key
+ --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
+ Path to private key file for client
+ certificate
+ --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
+ Password for client certificate private key,
+ if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
+ is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
## Post-Processing Options:
- -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
- (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
- --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
- to when -x is used. Currently supported
- formats are: best (default) or one of
- best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
- --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, 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|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
- target container does not support the
- video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
- can specify multiple rules; Eg.
- "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
- m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
- --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
- re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
- supported formats are the same as --remux-video
- --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
- Specify the postprocessor/executable name
- and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
- to give the argument to the specified
- postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
- Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
- ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
- Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
- SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
- FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
- FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
- supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
- FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
- "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
- specified executable only when being used
- by the specified postprocessor.
- Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
- can be appended to the prefix optionally
- followed by a number to pass the argument
- before the specified input/output file. Eg:
- --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
- use this option multiple times to give
- different arguments to different
- postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
- -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
- after post-processing
- --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
- post-processing (default)
- --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
- --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
- --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
- webm and mkv videos)
- --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
- --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
- --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
- --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
- embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
- --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
- are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
- --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
- (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
- --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
- (Alias: --add-chapters)
- --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
- (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
- --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
- mkv/mka video files
- --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
- to the video file
- --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
- from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
- for details
+ -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
+ (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
+ --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
+ used. (currently supported: best (default),
+ 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: 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.
+ "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
+ mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
+ --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
+ necessary. The syntax and supported formats
+ are the same as --remux-video
+ --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
+ Specify the postprocessor/executable name
+ and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
+ to give the argument to the specified
+ postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
+ Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
+ ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
+ Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
+ SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
+ FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
+ FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
+ supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
+ FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
+ "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
+ specified executable only when being used by
+ the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
+ for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
+ appended to the prefix optionally followed
+ by a number to pass the argument before the
+ specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
+ "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
+ this option multiple times to give different
+ arguments to different postprocessors.
+ (Alias: --ppa)
+ -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
+ after post-processing
+ --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
+ post-processing (default)
+ --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
+ --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
+ --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
+ webm and mkv videos)
+ --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
+ --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
+ --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
+ --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
+ embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
+ --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
+ used (Alias: --add-metadata)
+ --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
+ (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
+ --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
+ (Alias: --add-chapters)
+ --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
+ --no-add-chapters)
+ --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
+ mkv/mka video files
+ --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
+ to the video file
+ --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
+ from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
+ for details
--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
- Replace text in a metadata field using the
- given regex. This option can be used
- multiple times
- --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
- (using dublin core and xdg standards)
- --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
- "never", "always", or "multi_video"
- (default; only when the videos form a
- single show). All the video files must have
- same codecs and number of streams to be
- concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
- used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
- the output filename for the split files.
- See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
- --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
- file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
- emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
- default; fix file if we can, warn
- 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
- --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
- when to execute it (after_move if
- unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
- values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
- --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
- output template can be used to pass any
- field as arguments to the command. After
- download, an additional field "filepath"
- that contains the final path of the
- downloaded file is also available, and if
- no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
- appended to the end of the command. This
- option can 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)
- (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
- --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
- (currently supported: jpg|png)
- --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
- internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
- can 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)
- --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
- be used multiple times
- --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
- (default)
- --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
- removing/splitting them. Requires a
- re-encode and thus is very slow, 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] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
- postprocessors to be enabled, and
- (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
- separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
- semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
- The "when" argument determines when the
- postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
- "pre_process" (after extraction),
- "before_dl" (before video download),
- "post_process" (after video download;
- default), "after_move" (after moving file
- to their final locations), "after_video"
- (after downloading and processing all
- formats of a video), or "playlist" (end of
- playlist). This option can be used multiple
- times to add different postprocessors
+ Replace text in a metadata field using the
+ given regex. This option can be used
+ multiple times
+ --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
+ (using dublin core and xdg standards)
+ --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
+ "never", "always", or "multi_video"
+ (default; only when the videos form a single
+ show). All the video files must have same
+ codecs and number of streams to be
+ concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
+ used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
+ the output filename for the concatenated
+ files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
+ --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
+ file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
+ emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
+ default; fix file if we can, warn
+ 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
+ --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
+ when to execute it (after_move if
+ unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
+ values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
+ --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
+ output template can be used to pass any
+ field as arguments to the command. After
+ download, an additional field "filepath"
+ that contains the final path of the
+ downloaded file is also available, and if no
+ fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
+ to the end of the command. This option can
+ be used multiple times
+ --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
+ --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
+ (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
+ (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
+ --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
+ (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
+ can specify multiple rules using similar
+ syntax as --remux-video
+ --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
+ internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
+ 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)
+ --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
+ 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 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]
+ The (case sensitive) name of plugin
+ postprocessors to be enabled, and
+ (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
+ separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
+ semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
+ The "when" argument determines when the
+ postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
+ "pre_process" (after video extraction),
+ "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
+ "before_dl" (before each video download),
+ "post_process" (after each video download;
+ default), "after_move" (after moving video
+ file to it's final locations), "after_video"
+ (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
## SponsorBlock Options:
Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
[SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
- --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
- for, separated by commas. Available
- categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
- intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
- interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
- You can prefix the category with a "-" to
- exempt it. See [1] for description of the
- categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
- [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
- --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
- the video file, separated by commas. If a
- category is present in both mark and
- remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
- and available categories are the same as
- for --sponsorblock-mark except that
- "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
- poi_highlight is not available
+ --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
+ for, separated by commas. Available
+ categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
+ selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
+ music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
+ default (=all). You can prefix the category
+ with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
+ description of the categories. Eg:
+ --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
+ [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
+ --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
+ the video file, separated by commas. If a
+ category is present in both mark and remove,
+ remove takes precedence. The syntax and
+ available categories are the same as for
+ --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
+ refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
+ not available
--sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
- The title template for SponsorBlock
- chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
- The same syntax as the output template is
- used, but the only available fields are
- start_time, end_time, category, categories,
- name, category_names. Defaults to
- "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
- --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
- --sponsorblock-remove
- --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
- https://sponsor.ajay.app
+ An output template for the title of the
+ SponsorBlock chapters created by
+ --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
+ fields are start_time, end_time, category,
+ categories, name, category_names. Defaults
+ to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
+ --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
+ --sponsorblock-remove
+ --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
+ https://sponsor.ajay.app
## Extractor Options:
- --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
- errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
- --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
- (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
- --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
- (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
- --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
- discontinuities such as ad breaks
- --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
- formats at discontinuities such as ad
- breaks (default)
- --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
- "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
- use this option multiple times to give
- arguments for different extractors
+ --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
+ (default is 3), or "infinite"
+ --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
+ (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
+ --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
+ (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
+ --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
+ discontinuities such as ad breaks
+ --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
+ formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
+ (default)
+ --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
+ "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
+ use this option multiple times to give
+ arguments for different extractors
# CONFIGURATION
* `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
* `~/yt-dlp.conf`
* `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
-
+
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
+
1. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
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:
It may however also 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/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-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.
The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
+
1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
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
%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
```
-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`. For example, `-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 (except default) is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
+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`. For example, `-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. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
The available fields are:
- `id` (string): Video identifier
- `title` (string): Video title
+ - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
- `url` (string): Video URL
- `ext` (string): Video filename extension
- `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
- `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
- `creator` (string): The creator of the video
- `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
- - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
+ - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
- `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
- - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
+ - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
- `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
- - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified
+ - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
- `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
- `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
- `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
- `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
- `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
- `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
- - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
+ - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
- `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
- `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
- `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
- `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
- `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
- `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
- `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
- - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
+ - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
- `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
- `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
- `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
- - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
+ - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
+ - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
+ - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
- `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
- `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
- `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
- - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
- - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
- `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
- `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
- `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
- `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
- `all`: Select **all formats** separately
- `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
- - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
+ - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
- `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
- `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
- `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
- `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
- - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
+ - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
- `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
- `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
- `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
- `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
- `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
-For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to 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.
+For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to 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 `-S +size` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
You can select the n'th best format of a type by using `best<type>.<n>`. For example, `best.2` will select the 2nd best combined format. Similarly, `bv*.3` will select the 3rd best format that contains a video stream.
- `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
- `fps`: Frame rate
-Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
+Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
- `ext`: File extension
- `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
- `format_id`: A short description of the format
- `language`: Language code
-Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
+Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
-# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
-$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)"
+# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
+# or the best video if there is no such video
+$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
This option also has a few special uses:
+
* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
+
* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
+**Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
+
For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
-Metadata fields|From
-:---|:---
-`title`|`track` or `title`
-`date`|`upload_date`
-`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
-`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
-`track`|`track_number`
-`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
-`genre`|`genre`
-`album`|`album`
-`album_artist`|`album_artist`
-`disc`|`disc_number`
-`show`|`series`
-`season_number`|`season_number`
-`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
-`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
-`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
+Metadata fields | From
+:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
+`title` | `track` or `title`
+`date` | `upload_date`
+`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
+`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
+`track` | `track_number`
+`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
+`genre` | `genre`
+`album` | `album`
+`album_artist` | `album_artist`
+`disc` | `disc_number`
+`show` | `series`
+`season_number` | `season_number`
+`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
+`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
+`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
+
**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
-# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
+# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
+$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
+
+# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
+# 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
# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
-Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
+Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
The following extractors use this feature:
#### youtube
-* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
-* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android`, `ios`, `mweb`. These also have `_music`, `_embedded`, `_agegate`, and `_creator` variants (Eg: `web_embedded`) (`mweb` has only `_agegate`). By default, `android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can also 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.
-* `max_comment_depth` Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
- * **Deprecated**: Set `max-replies` to `0` or `all` in `max_comments` instead (e.g. `max_comments=all,all,0` to get no replies)
+* `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)
+* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
#### funimation
* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
+#### crunchyrollbeta
+* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
+ * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
+* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
+
#### vikichannel
* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
+#### niconico
+* `segment_duration`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
+
#### youtubewebarchive
* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
+#### tiktok
+* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
+* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
+
+#### rokfinchannel
+* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
+
+
NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
```python
from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
-ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
-with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
- ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
+ 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#L191).
+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).
+
+**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)
-Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
+## Embedding examples
+
+#### Extracting information
```python
import json
import yt_dlp
+URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
+
+# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
+ydl_opts = {}
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
+
+ # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
+ print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
+```
+#### Download using an info-json
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
+ error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
+
+print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
+ else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
+```
+
+#### Extract audio
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
+ # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
+ 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
+ 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
+ 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
+ }]
+}
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+#### Filter videos
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+
+def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
+ """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
+ duration = info.get('duration')
+ if duration and duration < 60:
+ return 'The video is too short'
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
+}
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+#### Adding logger and progress hook
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
class MyLogger:
def debug(self, msg):
print(msg)
-# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
+# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
+def my_hook(d):
+ if d['status'] == 'finished':
+ print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
+
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'logger': MyLogger(),
+ 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
+}
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+#### Add a custom PostProcessor
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+
+# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
- # ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
def run(self, info):
self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
return [], info
-# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
-def my_hook(d):
- if d['status'] == 'finished':
- print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
+ # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
+ ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
+ ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+
+#### Use a custom format selector
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
def format_selector(ctx):
""" Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
- This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
+ NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
# formats are already sorted worst to best
formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
+ # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
yield {
- # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
'ext': best_video['ext'],
'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
}
-# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
ydl_opts = {
'format': format_selector,
- 'postprocessors': [{
- # Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
- # ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
- 'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
- 'add_chapters': True,
- 'add_metadata': True,
- }],
- 'logger': MyLogger(),
- 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
}
-
-# Add custom headers
-yt_dlp.utils.std_headers.update({'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'})
-
-# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
-# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
- ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
- info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
-
- # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
- print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
+ ydl.download(URLS)
```
-**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 above
-
-
<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
--reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
--min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
--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
These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
--test Download only part of video for testing extractors
+ --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
--youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
--allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
--no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
--avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
+ --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
--cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
--dump-headers --print-traffic
--dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
--force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
--load-info --load-info-json
+ --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
--no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
--no-write-srt --no-write-subs
--prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
-A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
- -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
- -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
+ -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
# CONTRIBUTING
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blobdiff