+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
<div align="center">
[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
[![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
</div>
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
+<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
+
+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
* [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
* [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
* [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
* [MORE](#more)
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
# NEW FEATURES
-The major new features from the latest release of [blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
+
+* 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)
* **[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 youtube-dl [commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)**: (v2021.06.06) You get all the latest features and patches of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
-
* **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.
* **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
- * Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
+ * 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)
* 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`
-* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
+* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
-* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Spectrum MSO, SlingTV MSO, Cablevision MSO, RCN MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries, VidioPremier, VidioLive, RCTIPlus, TBS Live, douyin, pornflip, ParamountPlusSeries, ScienceChannel, Utreon, OpenRec, BandcampMusic, blackboardcollaborate, eroprofile albums, mirrativ, BannedVideo, bilibili categories, Epicon, filmmodu, GabTV, HungamaAlbum, ManotoTV, Niconico search, Patreon User, peloton, ProjectVeritas, radiko, StarTV, tiktok user, Tokentube, voicy, TV2HuSeries, biliintl, 17live, NewgroundsUser, peertube channel/playlist, ZenYandex, CAM4, CGTN, damtomo, gotostage, Koo, Mediaite, Mediaklikk, MuseScore, nzherald, Olympics replay, radlive, SovietsCloset, Streamanity, Theta, Chingari, ciscowebex, Gettr, GoPro, N1, Theta, Veo, Vupload, NovaPlay, SkyNewsAU, EUScreen, Gronkh, microsoftstream, on24, trovo channels
+* **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)
-* **Fixed/improved extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon, videa, yahoo, BravoTV, crunchyroll, RTP, viki, Hotstar, vidio, vimeo, mediaset, Mxplayer, nbcolympics, ParamountPlus, Newgrounds, SAML Verizon login, Hungama, afreecatv, aljazeera, ATV, bitchute, camtube, CDA, eroprofile, facebook, HearThisAtIE, iwara, kakao, Motherless, Nova, peertube, pornhub, reddit, tiktok, TV2, TV2Hu, tv5mondeplus, VH1, Viafree, XHamster, 9Now, AnimalPlanet, Arte, CBC, Chingari, comedycentral, DIYNetwork, niconico, dw, funimation, globo, HiDive, NDR, Nuvid, Oreilly, pbs, plutotv, reddit, redtube, soundcloud, SpankBang, VrtNU, bbc, Bilibili, LinkedInLearning, parliamentlive, PolskieRadio, Streamable, vidme, francetv, 7plus, tagesschau
+* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
* **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
* **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**: `--print`, `--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 `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--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) 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 etc
-* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
+* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
-
See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
-
-**PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
-
-If you are coming from [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare [options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
-
### 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 as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
+* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
* 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 prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
+* 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
* 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-infojson`. Use `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
+* `--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`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#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
* 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 seperate 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
+* 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
For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
```
```
-sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
+sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
```
python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
```
-On some systems (like Termux), it is not possible to install pycryptodomex. In that case, install without dependancies:
+You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
```
python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
```
-You can also install the master branch with:
+If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
```
-python3 -m pip3 install -U 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.zip
```
Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
## RELEASE FILES
#### Recommended
[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
## DEPENDENCIES
Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing `MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
-->
-While all the other dependancies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
-* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
+While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly 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)
-* [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/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)
The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets 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 dependancy, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) 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 specifc issues solved by these builds
+**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/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) 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
## COMPILE
**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
+You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
+
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
-<!-- Auto generated -->
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
+<!-- Auto generated -->
## General Options:
-h, --help Print this help text and exit
--version Print program version and exit
--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
+ --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)
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
- --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
--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
--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
- --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
## Download Options:
-N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
- video that should be download concurrently
- (default is 1)
+ 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
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)
(Alias: --external-downloader-args)
## Filesystem Options:
- -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
+ -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
- with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
+ 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
--load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
(created with the "--write-info-json"
option)
- --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
- jar in
+ --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[:PROFILE]
- Load cookies from a user profile of the
- given web browser. Currently supported
- browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium,
- edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi. You
- can specify the user profile name or
- directory using "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
- "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
- given, the most recently accessed one is
- used
+ --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
--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
+ best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
--audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
- value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
+ 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
--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 adds
- chapters to file unless --no-add-chapters
- is used (Alias: --add-metadata)
+ --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
emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
default; fix file if we can, warn
otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
- already exists
+ already exists)
--ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
path to the binary or its containing
directory
(default)
--force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
removing/splitting them. Requires a
- reencode and thus is very slow, but the
+ 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
--use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
postprocessors to be enabled, and
(optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
- seperated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
+ 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
--sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
for, separated by commas. Available
- categories are all, sponsor, intro, outro,
- selfpromo, interaction, preview,
- music_offtopic. You can prefix the category
- with a "-" to exempt it. See
- https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/index.php/Segment_Categories
- for description of the categories. Eg:
- --sponsorblock-query all,-preview
+ 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
+ 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.
* `~/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%`
+ `%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:
The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
The simplest usage of `-o` is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `yt-dlp -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` (hard-coding file extension like this is _not_ recommended and could break some post-processing).
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. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
-1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified seperated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
-1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
-1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son, a comma seperated **l**ist (alternate form flag `#` makes it new line `\n` seperated) and a string **q**uoted for the terminal, respectively
+
+1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
+
+1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
+
+1. **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), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
+
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
To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
```
-%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
+%(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`. 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`. 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.
The available fields are:
- `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 "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
- `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
- - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
+ - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
- `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
- `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
- `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
- `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
+ - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
+ - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
- `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
-Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s'` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
+Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
-In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title:
+In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
#### Output template and Windows batch files
If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
#### Output template examples
-Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
-
```bash
-$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
-youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
+$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
+test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
+
+$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
+youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
-$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
-youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
+$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
+youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
-$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
+$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
-$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
+$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
+
+# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
+$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
-$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
+$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
-$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P '~/MyVideos' -o '%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
+$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
-$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
+$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" "https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617"
# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
The general syntax for format selection is `-f FORMAT` (or `--format FORMAT`) where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
+<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
+<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
You can also use a file extension (currently `3gp`, `aac`, `flv`, `m4a`, `mp3`, `mp4`, `ogg`, `wav`, `webm` are supported) to download the best quality format of a particular file extension served as a single file, e.g. `-f webm` will download the best quality format with the `webm` extension served as a single file.
+You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
+
You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
- - `all`: Select all formats
- - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
- - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
- - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
- - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
+ - `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 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]`
+ - `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]`
- - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
- `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
- - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
- `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
- - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
- `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
- - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=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.
Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
-Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
+Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
## Sorting Formats
- `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
- `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
- `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
- - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
- - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
- - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
+ - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
+ - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
+ - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
- `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
- - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
- - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
+ - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
+ - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
- `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
- `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
- `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
-Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not prefered. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not prefered. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
+Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
If your format selector is `worst`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all respects. 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`.
## Format Selection examples
-Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
-
```bash
# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
# Download best format that contains video,
# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
# Same as above
$ yt-dlp
# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
# For this case, an output template should be used since
# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
# and all audio-only formats into one file
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
# Download the worst video available (old method)
-$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
+$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
-$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
+$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
# Download the smallest video available
-$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
+$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
# Download the best video with the best extension
# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
-$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
+$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
-$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
+$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
-$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
+$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
-$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
+$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
-$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
+$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
-$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
+$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
-$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
+$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
-$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
+$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
# Download best video available via the best protocol
# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
-$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
+$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
# 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)'
+$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (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
-$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
+$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
-$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
+$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
-$ yt-dlp -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
+$ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
-$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
+$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
-$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
+$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
```
# MODIFYING METADATA
## Modifying metadata examples
-Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
-
```bash
# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
-$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
+$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
# Regex example
-$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
+$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
-$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
+$ 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
-$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
+$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
-$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ':(?P<formats>)' -j
+$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
-$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
+$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
```
# 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_agegate,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
+* `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.
* `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 (These formats don't download properly)
+* `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`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all)
-* `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
+* `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)
#### 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)
* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
+#### crunchyroll
+* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
+* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
+
#### vikichannel
* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
+#### youtubewebarchive
+* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
+
+#### gamejolt
+* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
+
NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
+<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
+
# PLUGINS
From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
```python
-import yt_dlp
+from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
-ydl_opts = {}
-with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
+with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
```
-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#L154-L452).
+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#L162).
-Here's a more complete example of a program that outputs only errors (and a short message after the download is finished), converts the video to an mp3 file, implements a custom postprocessor and prints the final info_dict as json:
+Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
```python
import json
-
import yt_dlp
-from yt_dlp.postprocessor.common import PostProcessor
class MyLogger:
def debug(self, msg):
- # For compatability with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
+ # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
# You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
pass
print(msg)
-class MyCustomPP(PostProcessor):
+# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.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 ...')
+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 """
+
+ # formats are already sorted worst to best
+ formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
+
+ # acodec='none' means there is no audio
+ best_video = next(f for f in formats
+ if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
+
+ # find compatible audio extension
+ audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
+ # vcodec='none' means there is no video
+ best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
+ f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
+
+ 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],
+ # Must be + separated list of protocols
+ 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
+ }
+
+
+# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
ydl_opts = {
- 'format': 'bestaudio/best',
+ 'format': format_selector,
'postprocessors': [{
- 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
- 'preferredcodec': 'mp3',
- 'preferredquality': '192',
+ # 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)))
```
-See the public functions in [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py) for other available functions. Eg: `ydl.download`, `ydl.download_with_info_file`
-
**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
These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
--yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
#### Sponskrub Options
-Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of `--sponsorblock`
+Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
--sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
--no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock