which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
# 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 continue on download errors, for example to to
- skip unavailable videos in a playlist
- --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
- playlist or the command line) if an error occurs
- --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
- --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
- --referer REF specify a custom referer, use if the video access
- is restricted to one domain
- --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they
- would handle
- --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported extractors
- --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in an
- empty string (--proxy "") for direct connection
- --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
- --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl can
- store some downloaded information permanently. By
- default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or ~/.cache
- /youtube-dl . At the moment, only YouTube player
- files (for videos with obfuscated signatures) are
- cached, but that may change.
- --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
- --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack bidirectional
- text support. Requires bidiv or fribidi
- executable in PATH
+ -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 continue on download errors, for example to
+ skip unavailable videos in a playlist
+ --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
+ playlist or the command line) if an error
+ occurs
+ --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
+ --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
+ --referer REF 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
+ --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs
+ they would handle
+ --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
+ extractors
+ --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in
+ an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
+ connection
+ --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
+ --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
+ information about the video. (Currently
+ supported only for YouTube)
+ --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
+ can store some downloaded information
+ permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME
+ /youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the
+ moment, only YouTube player files (for
+ videos with obfuscated signatures) are
+ cached, but that may change.
+ --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
+ --socket-timeout None Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
+ --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
+ bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
+ or fribidi executable in PATH
+ --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
+ example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
+ from google videos for youtube-dl "large
+ apple". By default (with value "auto")
+ youtube-dl guesses.
+ --ignore-config Do not read configuration files. When given
+ in the global configuration file /etc
+ /youtube-dl.conf: do not read the user
+ configuration in ~/.config/youtube-dl.conf
+ (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt on
+ Windows)
+ --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
## Video Selection:
- --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
- --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
- --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or caseless
- sub-string)
- --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
- caseless sub-string)
- --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 (e.g.
- 50k or 44.6m)
- --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
- --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded before this date
- --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded after this date
- --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than COUNT
- views
- --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than COUNT
- views
- --no-playlist download only the currently playing video
- --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.
+ --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
+ --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
+ --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or
+ caseless sub-string)
+ --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
+ caseless sub-string)
+ --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
+ (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
+ --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
+ --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded on or before
+ this date (i.e. inclusive)
+ --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded on or after
+ this date (i.e. inclusive)
+ --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
+ COUNT views
+ --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
+ COUNT views
+ --no-playlist download only the currently playing video
+ --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.
+ --include-ads Download advertisements as well
+ (experimental)
+ --youtube-include-dash-manifest Try to download the DASH manifest on
+ YouTube videos (experimental)
## Download Options:
- -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second (e.g.
- 50K or 4.2M)
- -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
- --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
- (default is 1024)
- --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
- default, the buffer size is automatically resized
- from an initial value of SIZE.
+ -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second
+ (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
+ -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
+ --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
+ (default is 1024)
+ --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer
+ size. By default, the buffer size is
+ automatically resized from an initial value
+ of SIZE.
## Filesystem Options:
- -t, --title use title in file name (default)
- --id use only video ID in file name
- -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
- -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
- -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to get
- the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
- %(uploader_id)s for the uploader nickname if
- different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
- incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename
- extension, %(format)s for the format description
- (like "22 - 1280x720" or "HD"),%(format_id)s for
- the unique id of the format (like Youtube's
- itags: "137"),%(upload_date)s for the upload date
- (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
- (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
- , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
- %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
- playlist and %% for a literal percent. Use - to
- output to stdout. Can also be used to download to
- a different directory, for example with -o '/my/d
- ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
- --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
- when it is present in output filename template or
- --auto-number option is given
- --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
- avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
- -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
- --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
- (created with the "--write-json" option
- -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
- -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files. By
- default, youtube-dl will resume downloads if
- possible.
- --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
- from beginning)
- --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
- --no-part do not use .part files
- --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set the
- file modification time
- --write-description write video description to a .description file
- --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
- --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation file
- --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
+ -t, --title use title in file name (default)
+ --id use only video ID in file name
+ -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
+ -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
+ -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to
+ get the title, %(uploader)s for the
+ uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
+ uploader nickname if different,
+ %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
+ incremented number, %(ext)s for the
+ filename extension, %(format)s for the
+ format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
+ "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
+ the format (like Youtube's itags: "137"),
+ %(upload_date)s for the upload date
+ (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
+ (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
+ video id, %(playlist)s for the playlist the
+ video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
+ position in the playlist and %% for a
+ literal percent. %(height)s and %(width)s
+ for the width and height of the video
+ format. %(resolution)s for a textual
+ description of the resolution of the video
+ format. Use - to output to stdout. Can also
+ be used to download to a different
+ directory, for example with -o '/my/downloa
+ ds/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
+ --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in
+ %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
+ filename template or --auto-number option
+ is given
+ --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
+ characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
+ filenames
+ -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for
+ stdin)
+ --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
+ (created with the "--write-json" option)
+ -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
+ -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files.
+ By default, youtube-dl will resume
+ downloads if possible.
+ --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files
+ (restart from beginning)
+ --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie
+ jar in
+ --no-part do not use .part files
+ --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set
+ the file modification time
+ --write-description write video description to a .description
+ file
+ --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
+ --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation
+ file
+ --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
- -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
- -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
- anything to disk
- --skip-download do not download the video
- -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
- -j, --dump-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information
- --newline output progress bar as new lines
- --no-progress do not print progress bar
- --console-title display progress in console titlebar
- -v, --verbose print various debugging information
- --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
- verbose)
- --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files in
- the current directory to debug problems
+ -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
+ --no-warnings Ignore warnings
+ -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
+ anything to disk
+ --skip-download do not download the video
+ -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
+ -j, --dump-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
+ See --output for a description of available
+ keys.
+ --newline output progress bar as new lines
+ --no-progress do not print progress bar
+ --console-title display progress in console titlebar
+ -v, --verbose print various debugging information
+ --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages 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
## Video Format Options:
- -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
- preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18". "-f mp4"
- and "-f flv" are also supported
- --all-formats download all available video formats
- --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific one
- is requested
- --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
- -F, --list-formats list all available formats (currently youtube
- only)
+ -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
+ preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18".
+ "-f mp4" and "-f flv" are also supported.
+ You can also use the special names "best",
+ "bestvideo", "bestaudio", "worst",
+ "worstvideo" and "worstaudio". By default,
+ youtube-dl will pick the best quality.
+ --all-formats download all available video formats
+ --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific
+ one is requested
+ --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
+ -F, --list-formats list all available formats
## Subtitle Options:
- --write-sub write subtitle file
- --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)
- --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of the
- video
- --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
- --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt] youtube
- only)
- --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download (optional)
- separated by commas, use IETF language tags like
- 'en,pt'
+ --write-sub write subtitle file
+ --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube
+ only)
+ --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of
+ the video
+ --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
+ --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt]
+ youtube only)
+ --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download
+ (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
+ language tags like 'en,pt'
## Authentication Options:
- -u, --username USERNAME account username
- -p, --password PASSWORD account password
- -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
- --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo only)
+ -u, --username USERNAME account username
+ -p, --password PASSWORD account password
+ -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
+ --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo, smotri)
## Post-processing Options:
- -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
- ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
- --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or
- "wav"; best by default
- --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert
- a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for VBR
- or a specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
- --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if necessary
- (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
- -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the post-
- processing; the video is erased by default
- --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-
- processed files are overwritten by default
- --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
- videos)
- --add-metadata add metadata to the files
+ -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files
+ (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
+ avprobe)
+ --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a",
+ "opus", or "wav"; best by default
+ --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification,
+ insert a value between 0 (better) and 9
+ (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate like
+ 128K (default 5)
+ --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
+ necessary (currently supported:
+ mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
+ -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the
+ post-processing; the video is erased by
+ default
+ --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the
+ post-processed files are overwritten by
+ default
+ --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
+ videos)
+ --embed-thumbnail embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
+ --add-metadata write metadata to the video file
+ --xattrs write metadata to the video file's xattrs
+ (using dublin core and xdg standards)
+ --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
+ postprocessors (default)
+ --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
+ postprocessors
# CONFIGURATION
-You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.config/youtube-dl.conf`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and `C:\Users\<Yourname>\youtube-dl.conf`.
+You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and `C:\Users\<Yourname>\youtube-dl.conf`.
# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
Examples:
- $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months #will only download the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
- $ youtube-dl --date 19700101 #will only download the videos uploaded in January 1, 1970
- $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20100101 #will only download the videos uploaded between 2000 and 2010
+ # Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
+ $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
+
+ # Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
+ $ youtube-dl --date 19700101
+
+ $ # will only download the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
+ $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
# FAQ
To run the exe you need to install first the [Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
-# COPYRIGHT
+# DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS
-youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
+Most users do not need to build youtube-dl and can [download the builds](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html) or get them from their distribution.
-This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
+To run youtube-dl as a developer, you don't need to build anything either. Simply execute
+
+ python -m youtube_dl
+
+To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a test file directly; any of the following work:
+
+ python -m unittest discover
+ python test/test_download.py
+ nosetests
+
+If you want to create a build of youtube-dl yourself, you'll need
+
+* python
+* make
+* pandoc
+* zip
+* nosetests
+
+### Adding support for a new site
+
+If you want to add support for a new site, you can follow this quick list (assuming your service is called `yourextractor`):
+
+1. [Fork this repository](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/fork)
+2. Check out the source code with `git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/youtube-dl.git`
+3. Start a new git branch with `cd youtube-dl; git checkout -b yourextractor`
+4. Start with this simple template and save it to `youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py`:
+
+ # coding: utf-8
+ from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+ import re
+
+ from .common import InfoExtractor
+
+
+ class YourExtractorIE(InfoExtractor):
+ _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?yourextractor\.com/watch/(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
+ _TEST = {
+ 'url': 'http://yourextractor.com/watch/42',
+ 'md5': 'TODO: md5 sum of the first 10KiB of the video file',
+ 'info_dict': {
+ 'id': '42',
+ 'ext': 'mp4',
+ 'title': 'Video title goes here',
+ # TODO more properties, either as:
+ # * A value
+ # * MD5 checksum; start the string with md5:
+ # * A regular expression; start the string with re:
+ # * Any Python type (for example int or float)
+ }
+ }
+
+ def _real_extract(self, url):
+ mobj = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
+ video_id = mobj.group('id')
+
+ # TODO more code goes here, for example ...
+ webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
+ title = self._html_search_regex(r'<h1>(.*?)</h1>', webpage, 'title')
+
+ return {
+ 'id': video_id,
+ 'title': title,
+ # TODO more properties (see youtube_dl/extractor/common.py)
+ }
+
+
+5. Add an import in [`youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py).
+6. Run `python test/test_download.py TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`. This *should fail* at first, but you can continually re-run it until you're done.
+7. Have a look at [`youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a [detailed description of what your extractor should return](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L38). Add tests and code for as many as you want.
+8. If you can, check the code with [pyflakes](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyflakes) (a good idea) and [pep8](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pep8) (optional, ignore E501).
+9. When the tests pass, [add](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-add.html) the new files and [commit](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-commit.html) them and [push](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-push.html) the result, like this:
+
+ $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
+ $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py
+ $ git commit -m '[yourextractor] Add new extractor'
+ $ git push origin yourextractor
+
+10. Finally, [create a pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request). We'll then review and merge it.
+
+In any case, thank you very much for your contributions!
# BUGS
For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the -v flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
-Site support requests must contain an example URL. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
+Site support requests **must contain an example URL**. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
### Are you using the latest version?
-Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. Ábout 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
+Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. About 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
### Is the issue already documented?
### Is your question about youtube-dl?
It may sound strange, but some bug reports we receive are completely unrelated to youtube-dl and relate to a different or even the reporter's own application. Please make sure that you are actually using youtube-dl. If you are using a UI for youtube-dl, report the bug to the maintainer of the actual application providing the UI. On the other hand, if your UI for youtube-dl fails in some way you believe is related to youtube-dl, by all means, go ahead and report the bug.
+
+# COPYRIGHT
+
+youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
+
+This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.