+## Installing Plugins
+
+Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
+
+1. **Configuration directories**:
+ Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
+ * **User Plugins**
+ * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
+ * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+ * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
+ * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+ * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+ * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+ * **System Plugins**
+ * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+ * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+2. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
+ * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+ * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
+
+3. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
+ * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
+ * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
+ * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
+ * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.