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
* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
+ * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
* [Dependencies](#dependencies)
* [Update](#update)
* **[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 that what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
-* **Merged with youtube-dl v2021.04.17**: 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 youtube-dl [commit/d495292](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/d495292852b6c2f1bd58bc2141ff2b0265c952cf)**: (v2021.05.16) 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 `--get-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 improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
* **Youtube improvements**:
- * All Youtube Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) works and supports downloading multiple pages of content
- * Youtube search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`) along with Search URLs work
- * Youtube mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
+ * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) supports downloading multiple pages of content
+ * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
+ * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
* Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
+ * `255kbps` audio is extracted from youtube music if premium cookies are given
+ * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded
* **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, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula
+* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo 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
-* **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu
+* **Fixed 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
+
+* **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
-* **Other new options**: `--parse-metadata`, `--list-formats-as-table`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
+* **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`
+
+* **Other new options**: `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
-* **Improvements**: Multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--external-downloader-args`, Date/time formatting in `-o`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
+* **Improvements**: Multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) 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 `--id`, `--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`
+* 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
+* 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
+* `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
+* 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
+* 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. 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
+
+For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
+* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
+* `--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`
+
# INSTALLATION
yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
### DEPENDENCIES
Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are officially supported. Other versions and implementations may or maynot work correctly.
-Although there are no required dependencies, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended. Other optional dependencies are `sponskrub`, `AtomicParsley`, `mutagen`, `pycryptodome` and any of the supported external downloaders. Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen and pycryptodome included.
+On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999) 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.
+
+Although there are no other required dependencies, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended. Other optional dependencies are `sponskrub`, `AtomicParsley`, `mutagen`, `pycryptodome`, `phantomjs` and any of the supported external downloaders. Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen and pycryptodome included.
### UPDATE
You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
+
+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
**For Unix**:
You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `nosetests`
--mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
--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 and youtube-dlc
+ configurations by reverting some of the
+ changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
+ default behavior" for details
## Network Options:
--proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
could still contain some personal
information (default)
--no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
- --get-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
- .info.json file. The comments are fetched
- even without this option if the extraction
- is known to be quick
+ --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)
formats are found (default)
--skip-download Do not download the video but write all
related files (Alias: --no-download)
- -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
- -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
- --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
- --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
- --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
- --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
- --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
- --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
+ -O, --print TEMPLATE Simulate, quiet but print the given fields.
+ Either a field name or similar formatting
+ as the output template can be used
-j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
available keys
actually downloadable (Experimental)
-F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
videos
- --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in tabular form
- (default)
- --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
- (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
--merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
## Post-Processing Options:
-x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
(requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
- --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
- "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
- "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
- -x
+ --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
+ to when -x is used. Currently supported
+ formats are: best (default) or one of
+ aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
--audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
|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.
+ 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 supported
- formats are the same as --remux-video
+ 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 ":"
fields are passed, "%(filepath)s" is
appended to the end of the command
--convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
- (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
+ (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
(Alias: --convert-subtitles)
--convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
- (currently supported: jpg)
+ (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"
* `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
Note that `~` points to `C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also, `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined
-1. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf` or `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
+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:
```
%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|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`, `infojson`, `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.
+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`, `infojson`, `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.
The available fields are:
- `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
- `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
- `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
- - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
+ - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
- `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
- `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
- `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
- `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
- `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
+Available only when used in `--print`:
+
+ - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
+ - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
+
Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
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`.
-You can also use this to change only 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. You can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis", for example.
+This option also has a few special uses:
+* 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. You can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis", for example
+* 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
## Modifying metadata examples
#### Not recommended
While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
+ --get-description --print description
+ --get-duration --print duration_string
+ --get-filename --print filename
+ --get-format --print format
+ --get-id --print id
+ --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
+ -e, --get-title --print title
+ -g, --get-url --print urls
--all-formats -f all
--all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
--autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
--metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
--hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
--hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
+ --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
+ --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
--sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
--test Used by developers for testing extractors. Not intended for the end user
+ --youtube-print-sig-code Used for testing youtube signatures
#### Old aliases
--no-call-home Default
--include-ads No longer supported
--no-include-ads Default
- --youtube-print-sig-code No longer supported
#### Removed
These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
projects / yt-dlp.git / blobdiff