* [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
* [Update](#update)
+ * [Release Files](#release-files)
* [Dependencies](#dependencies)
* [Compile](#compile)
* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
* [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
+* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
+* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
+ * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
+ * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
* [MORE](#more)
</div>
* Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
* Partial workaround for throttling issue
* 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
+ * `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))
* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
* **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, 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
+* **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
-* **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 playlist, 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
+* **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 playlist, 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
* **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
yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
-* Download the binary from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
+* Download [the binary](#release-files) from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
* With Homebrew, `brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
* Use [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp): `python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
-* Use pip+git: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
-* Install master branch: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
+* Install master branch: `python3 -m pip3 install -U 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 are using `pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
If you have installed using Homebrew, run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
+### RELEASE FILES
+
+#### Recommended
+
+File|Description
+:---|:---
+[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform independant binary. Needs Python (Recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
+[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows standalone x64 binary (Recommended for **Windows**)
+
+#### Alternatives
+
+File|Description
+:---|:---
+[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS standalone executable
+[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows standalone x86 (32bit) binary
+[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
+[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged windows executable (No auto-update)
+[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS executable (No auto-update)
+
+#### Misc
+
+File|Description
+:---|:---
+[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
+
### DEPENDENCIES
Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
-<!-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 -->
+<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
+<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
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)
* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
-* [**pycryptodome**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting various data. Licenced under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
+* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licenced under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced 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. Licenced under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
-Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodome and websockets included.
+The windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
-### COMPILE
+**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
-**For Windows**:
-To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodome, websockets)
-
- python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome websockets
-Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run `py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
+### COMPILE
-You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
+**For Windows**:
+To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodomex, websockets). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
- pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
+ py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
+ py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
+ py pyinst.py
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
You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
-**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
+**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
--flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
only list them
--no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
- --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
+ --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
+ Currently only supported for YouTube
--no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
--no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
--compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
comments and ignored
+ --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
-P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
downloaded. Specify the type of file and
the path separated by a colon ":". All the
--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
Load cookies from a user profile of the
given web browser. Currently supported
- browsers are: brave|chrome|chromium|edge|fi
- refox|opera|safari|vivaldi. You can specify
- the user profile name or directory using
- "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
+ 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
(Alias: --force-download-archive)
--newline Output progress bar as new lines
--no-progress Do not print progress bar
+ --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
--console-title Display progress in console titlebar
+ --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
+ Template for progress outputs, optionally
+ prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
+ "download-title:" (the console title),
+ "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
+ The video's fields are accessible under the
+ "info" key and the progress attributes are
+ accessible under "progress" key. Eg:
+ --console-title --progress-template
+ "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
-v, --verbose Print various debugging information
--dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
to debug problems (very verbose)
--no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
(default)
--remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
- given regular expression. This option can
+ given regular expression. Time ranges
+ prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
+ of chapters to remove the specified range.
+ Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
+ --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
be used multiple times
--no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
(default)
around the cuts
--no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
when cutting/splitting (default)
+ --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
+ postprocessors to be enabled, and
+ (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
+ seperated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
+ semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
+ The "when" argument determines when the
+ postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
+ "pre_process" (after extraction),
+ "before_dl" (before video download),
+ "post_process" (after video download;
+ default) or "after_move" (after moving file
+ to their final locations). This option can
+ be used multiple times to add different
+ postprocessors
## SponsorBlock Options:
Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
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 and a string **q**uoted for the terminal respectively
+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. **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
```
-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`, `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.
+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`, `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:
- `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
- `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
- `creator` (string): The creator of the video
- - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
- `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
- `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
+ - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
+ - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
- `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
- `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
- `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
- `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
- `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
+ - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
- `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
- `container` (string): Name of the container format
- `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
- `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
- `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
- `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
+ - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
- `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
- - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
+ - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
+ - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
- `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
- `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
- `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
- `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
- `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
-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).
+Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
+
+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_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
+**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the purticular URL
-For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
+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.
By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
This is generally equivalent to using `-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, if multiple audiostreams is enabled (`--audio-multistreams`), the default format changes to `-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best`. Similarly, if ffmpeg is unavailable, or if you use yt-dlp to stream to `stdout` (`-o -`), the default becomes `-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
+**Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to `-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the `-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
+
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.
**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
- `width`: Width of video
- `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
- `fps`: Framerate of video
+ - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
- `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
- `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
-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 `--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,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.
+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
+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.
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`.
This option also has a few special uses:
* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
-* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis"
+* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
* `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).
+* **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)
* **funimation**
* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
# PLUGINS
-Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only `extractor` plugins are supported. Support for `downloader` and `postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
+Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
+
+Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
+
+See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
+
+Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code
+
+If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
+
+
+
+# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
+
+yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
+
+Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J`, `--print`, `--progress-template`, `--exec` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
+
+From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+ydl_opts = {}
+with yt_dlp.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).
+
+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:
+
+```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
+ # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
+ if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
+ pass
+ else:
+ self.info(msg)
+
+ def info(self, msg):
+ pass
+
+ def warning(self, msg):
+ pass
+
+ def error(self, msg):
+ print(msg)
+
+
+class MyCustomPP(PostProcessor):
+ def run(self, info):
+ self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
+ return [], info
+
+
+def my_hook(d):
+ if d['status'] == 'finished':
+ print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
+
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'format': 'bestaudio/best',
+ 'postprocessors': [{
+ 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
+ 'preferredcodec': 'mp3',
+ 'preferredquality': '192',
+ }],
+ 'logger': MyLogger(),
+ 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
+}
+
+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')
+ 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
-**Note**: `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`)
# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
--print-json -j --no-simulate
--autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
--autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
+ --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
--metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
--hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
--hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
#### Removed
These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
- --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
-A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
-t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
-l, --literal -o accepts literal names
+# CONTRIBUTING
+See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
# MORE
-For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the [original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
+For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blobdiff