* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
+ * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
* [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
* **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 livestreams 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
+ * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) 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
* Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
* `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` (experimental)
+ * Support for downloading stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
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`
[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/MacOS/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
-[![ALl versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
+[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
* [**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 [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/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-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
+* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
+* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. 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)
To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
-The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter and all optional python packages (marked with \*) included.
+The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
**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#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) 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
## General 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)
+ -U, --update Update this program to latest version
-i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
The download will be considered successful
even if the postprocessing fails
those that have a like count more than 100
(or the like field is not available) and
also has a description that contains the
- phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case)
+ phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case). Use
+ "--match-filter -" to interactively ask
+ whether to download each video
--no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
--no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
to a video and a playlist
-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"
+ error (default is 3), or "infinite"
--fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
ISM)
(http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
use it for. Currently supports native,
aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
- wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
- this option multiple times to set different
- downloaders for different protocols. For
- example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
+ wget. You can use this option multiple
+ times to set different downloaders for
+ different protocols. For example,
+ --downloader aria2c --downloader
"dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
http/ftp downloads, and the native
downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
print it, separated by a ":". Supported
values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
--use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
- Implies --quiet and --simulate (unless
- --no-simulate is used). This option can be
- used multiple times
+ Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
+ --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
+ used. This option can be used multiple
+ times
--print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
Append given template to the file. The
values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
same codecs and number of streams to be
concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
- the output filename for the split files.
- See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
+ the output filename for the concatenated
+ files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
--fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
* `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
* `~/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%`
+
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:
It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
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`
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`.
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". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
**Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
```python
from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
-ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
-with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
- ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
+ ydl.download(URLS)
```
-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#L197).
+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#L181).
+
+**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 below](#extracting-information)
-Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
+## Embedding examples
+
+#### Extracting information
```python
import json
import yt_dlp
+URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
+
+# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
+ydl_opts = {}
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
+
+ # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
+ print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
+```
+#### Download using an info-json
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
+ error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
+
+print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
+ else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
+```
+
+#### Extract audio
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
+ # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
+ 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
+ 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
+ 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
+ }]
+}
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+#### Filter videos
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+
+def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
+ """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
+ duration = info.get('duration')
+ if duration and duration < 60:
+ return 'The video is too short'
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
+}
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+#### Adding logger and progress hook
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
class MyLogger:
def debug(self, msg):
print(msg)
-# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
+# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
+def my_hook(d):
+ if d['status'] == 'finished':
+ print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
+
+
+ydl_opts = {
+ 'logger': MyLogger(),
+ 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
+}
+
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
+ ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+#### Add a custom PostProcessor
+
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
+
+# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.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 ...')
+with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
+ ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
+ ydl.download(URLS)
+```
+
+
+#### Use a custom format selector
+```python
+import yt_dlp
+
+URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
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 """
+ NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
# formats are already sorted worst to best
formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
+ # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
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],
}
-# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
ydl_opts = {
'format': format_selector,
- 'postprocessors': [{
- # 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
- 'http_headers': {'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)))
+ ydl.download(URLS)
```
-**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 options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
-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
+ -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
# 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)