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1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
2 <div align="center">
4 [](#readme)
6 [](#installation "Installation")
7 [](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPI")
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 [](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 [](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [](LICENSE "License")
13 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pulse/monthly "Last activity")
17 </div>
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20 yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for [thousands of sites](supportedsites.md). The project is a fork of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc).
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
26 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
27 * [Release Files](#release-files)
28 * [Update](#update)
29 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
30 * [Compile](#compile)
31 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
32 * [General Options](#general-options)
33 * [Network Options](#network-options)
34 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
35 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
36 * [Download Options](#download-options)
37 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
38 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
39 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
40 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
41 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
42 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
43 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
44 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
45 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
46 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
47 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
48 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
49 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
50 * [Authentication with netrc](#authentication-with-netrc)
51 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
52 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
54 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
58 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
60 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
61 * [PLUGINS](#plugins)
62 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
63 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
64 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
65 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
66 * [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL](#changes-from-youtube-dl)
67 * [New features](#new-features)
68 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
69 * [Deprecated options](#deprecated-options)
70 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
71 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
72 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
73 * [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
74 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
75 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
78 # INSTALLATION
80 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
81 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
82 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
83 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
84 [](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
85 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
86 [](#release-files)
87 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
88 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
90 You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [pip](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
93 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
94 ## RELEASE FILES
96 #### Recommended
98 File|Description
99 :---|:---
100 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
101 [yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win8+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
102 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
104 #### Alternatives
106 File|Description
107 :---|:---
108 [yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Win8+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
109 [yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
110 [yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
111 [yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
112 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
113 [yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
114 [yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
116 #### Misc
118 File|Description
119 :---|:---
120 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
121 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
122 [SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
123 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
124 [SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
126 The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
127 Example usage:
128 ```
129 curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
130 gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
131 gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
132 ```
133 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
135 **Note**: The manpages, shell completion (autocomplete) files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
138 ## UPDATE
139 You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
141 If you [installed with pip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
143 For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer to their documentation
145 <a id="update-channels"></a>
147 There are currently three release channels for binaries: `stable`, `nightly` and `master`.
149 * `stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the `nightly` and `master` channels.
150 * The `nightly` channel has releases scheduled to build every day around midnight UTC, for a snapshot of the project's new patches and changes. This is the **recommended channel for regular users** of yt-dlp. The `nightly` releases are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases) or as development releases of the `yt-dlp` PyPI package (which can be installed with pip's `--pre` flag).
151 * The `master` channel features releases that are built after each push to the master branch, and these will have the very latest fixes and additions, but may also be more prone to regressions. They are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds/releases).
153 When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
154 `--update-to CHANNEL` can be used to switch to a different channel when a newer version is available. `--update-to [CHANNEL@]TAG` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
156 You may also use `--update-to <repository>` (`<owner>/<repository>`) to update to a channel on a completely different repository. Be careful with what repository you are updating to though, there is no verification done for binaries from different repositories.
158 Example usage:
160 * `yt-dlp --update-to master` switch to the `master` channel and update to its latest release
161 * `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.07.06` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.07.06`
162 * `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.10.07` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.10.07` if it exists on the current channel
163 * `yt-dlp --update-to example/yt-dlp@2023.09.24` upgrade/downgrade to the release from the `example/yt-dlp` repository, tag `2023.09.24`
165 **Important**: Any user experiencing an issue with the `stable` release should install or update to the `nightly` release before submitting a bug report:
166 ```
167 # To update to nightly from stable executable/binary:
168 yt-dlp --update-to nightly
170 # To install nightly with pip:
171 python3 -m pip install -U --pre "yt-dlp[default]"
172 ```
174 ## DEPENDENCIES
175 Python versions 3.9+ (CPython) and 3.10+ (PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
177 <!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
178 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
179 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.
180 -->
182 While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
184 ### Strongly recommended
186 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection), as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
188 There are bugs in ffmpeg that cause 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 some of 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
190 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the Python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
192 ### Networking
193 * [**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)
194 * [**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>
195 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
196 * [**requests**](https://github.com/psf/requests)\* - HTTP library. For HTTPS proxy and persistent connections support. Licensed under [Apache-2.0](https://github.com/psf/requests/blob/main/LICENSE)
198 #### Impersonation
200 The following provide support for impersonating browser requests. This may be required for some sites that employ TLS fingerprinting.
202 * [**curl_cffi**](https://github.com/lexiforest/curl_cffi) (recommended) - Python binding for [curl-impersonate](https://github.com/lexiforest/curl-impersonate). Provides impersonation targets for Chrome, Edge and Safari. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/lexiforest/curl_cffi/blob/main/LICENSE)
203 * Can be installed with the `curl-cffi` group, e.g. `pip install "yt-dlp[default,curl-cffi]"`
204 * Currently included in `yt-dlp.exe`, `yt-dlp_linux` and `yt-dlp_macos` builds
207 ### Metadata
209 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
210 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
211 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Mac** and **BSD**. 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
213 ### Misc
215 * [**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)
216 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
217 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage)\* - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access 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)
218 * Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
220 ### Deprecated
222 * [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
223 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
224 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
225 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
227 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
229 The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
231 If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
234 ## COMPILE
236 ### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
237 To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). The executable will be built for the same CPU architecture as the Python used.
239 You can run the following commands:
241 ```
242 python3 devscripts/install_deps.py --include pyinstaller
243 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
244 python3 -m bundle.pyinstaller
245 ```
247 On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
249 `python -m bundle.pyinstaller` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
251 **Note**: Pyinstaller versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
253 **Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **instead of** using `python -m bundle.pyinstaller` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
255 ### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
256 You will need the build tools `python` (3.9+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
258 After installing these, simply run `make`.
260 You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
262 ### Related scripts
264 * **`devscripts/install_deps.py`** - Install dependencies for yt-dlp.
265 * **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on the current date.
266 * **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
267 * **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
268 * **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS` to something nonempty to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
270 Note: See their `--help` for more info.
272 ### Forking the project
273 If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
275 # USAGE AND OPTIONS
277 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
278 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
280 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
281 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
283 <!-- Auto generated -->
284 ## General Options:
285 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
286 --version Print program version and exit
287 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
288 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
289 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
290 CHANNEL can be a repository as well. CHANNEL
291 and TAG default to "stable" and "latest"
292 respectively if omitted; See "UPDATE" for
293 details. Supported channels: stable,
294 nightly, master
295 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
296 The download will be considered successful
297 even if the postprocessing fails
298 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
299 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
300 playlist (default)
301 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
302 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
303 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
304 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
305 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
306 extractors and exit
307 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
308 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
309 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
310 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
311 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
312 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
313 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
314 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
315 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
316 google videos for the search term "python".
317 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
318 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
319 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
320 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
321 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
322 possible instead of searching
323 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
324 except those given to --config-locations.
325 For backward compatibility, if this option
326 is found inside the system configuration
327 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
328 (Alias: --no-config)
329 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
330 (default). When given inside a configuration
331 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
332 defined in the current file
333 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
334 either the path to the config or its
335 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
336 used multiple times and inside other
337 configuration files
338 --plugin-dirs PATH Path to an additional directory to search
339 for plugins. This option can be used
340 multiple times to add multiple directories.
341 Note that this currently only works for
342 extractor plugins; postprocessor plugins can
343 only be loaded from the default plugin
344 directories
345 --flat-playlist Do not extract a playlist's URL result
346 entries; some entry metadata may be missing
347 and downloading may be bypassed
348 --no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
349 (default)
350 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
351 Currently only supported for YouTube
352 (Experimental)
353 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
354 (default)
355 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
356 available. Pass the minimum number of
357 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
358 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
359 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
360 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
361 --color [STREAM:]POLICY Whether to emit color codes in output,
362 optionally prefixed by the STREAM (stdout or
363 stderr) to apply the setting to. Can be one
364 of "always", "auto" (default), "never", or
365 "no_color" (use non color terminal
366 sequences). Use "auto-tty" or "no_color-tty"
367 to decide based on terminal support only.
368 Can be used multiple times
369 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
370 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
371 configurations by reverting some of the
372 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
373 default behavior" for details
374 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
375 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
376 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
377 according to the Python string formatting
378 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
379 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
380 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
381 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
382 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
383 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
384 output. Alias options can trigger more
385 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
386 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
387 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
388 times. This option can be used multiple times
390 ## Network Options:
391 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
392 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
393 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
394 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
395 direct connection
396 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
397 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
398 --impersonate CLIENT[:OS] Client to impersonate for requests. E.g.
399 chrome, chrome-110, chrome:windows-10. Pass
400 --impersonate="" to impersonate any client.
401 Note that forcing impersonation for all
402 requests may have a detrimental impact on
403 download speed and stability
404 --list-impersonate-targets List available clients to impersonate.
405 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
406 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
407 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
408 default for security reasons.
410 ## Geo-restriction:
411 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
412 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
413 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
414 is not present) is used for the actual
415 downloading
416 --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
417 try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
418 "default" (only when known to be useful),
419 "never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
420 two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code
422 ## Video Selection:
423 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
424 to download. You can specify a range using
425 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
426 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
427 Use negative indices to count from the right
428 and negative STEP to download in reverse
429 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
430 playlist of size 15 will download the items
431 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
432 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
433 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
434 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
435 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
436 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
437 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
438 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
439 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
440 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
441 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
442 this date. The date formats accepted are the
443 same as --date
444 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
445 this date. The date formats accepted are the
446 same as --date
447 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
448 field can be compared with a number or a
449 string using the operators defined in
450 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
451 specify a field to match if the field is
452 present, use "!field" to check if the field
453 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
454 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
455 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
456 the filter matches if at least one of the
457 conditions is met. E.g. --match-filters
458 !is_live --match-filters "like_count>?100 &
459 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
460 only videos that are not live OR those that
461 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
462 field is not available) and also has a
463 description that contains the phrase "cats &
464 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filters -" to
465 interactively ask whether to download each
466 video
467 --no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filters (default)
468 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
469 download process when a video is rejected
470 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
471 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
472 to a video and a playlist
473 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
474 a video and a playlist
475 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
476 age
477 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
478 archive file. Record the IDs of all
479 downloaded videos in it
480 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
481 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
482 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
483 a file that is in the archive supplied with
484 the --download-archive option
485 --no-break-on-existing Do not stop the download process when
486 encountering a file that is in the archive
487 (default)
488 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
489 --break-match-filters, and autonumber to
490 reset per input URL
491 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
492 terminates the entire download queue
493 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
494 the playlist is skipped
496 ## Download Options:
497 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
498 video that should be downloaded concurrently
499 (default is 1)
500 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
501 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
502 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
503 below which throttling is assumed and the
504 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
505 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
506 "infinite"
507 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
508 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
509 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
510 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
511 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
512 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
513 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
514 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
515 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
516 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
517 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
518 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
519 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
520 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
521 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
522 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
523 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
524 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
525 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
526 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
527 downloading is finished
528 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
529 downloading is finished (default)
530 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
531 (default is 1024)
532 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
533 from an initial value of --buffer-size
534 (default)
535 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
536 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
537 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
538 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
539 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
540 (experimental)
541 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
542 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
543 received. This disables n_entries,
544 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
545 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
546 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
547 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
548 expected file size
549 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
550 allowing some players to play the video
551 while downloading, and reducing the chance
552 of file corruption if download is
553 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
554 live streams
555 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
556 videos. This is default when not downloading
557 live streams
558 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters that match the
559 regular expression. A "*" prefix denotes
560 time-range instead of chapter. Negative
561 timestamps are calculated from the end.
562 "*from-url" can be used to download between
563 the "start_time" and "end_time" extracted
564 from the URL. Needs ffmpeg. This option can
565 be used multiple times to download multiple
566 sections, e.g. --download-sections
567 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
568 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
569 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
570 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
571 use it for. Currently supports native,
572 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
573 wget. You can use this option multiple times
574 to set different downloaders for different
575 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
576 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
577 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
578 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
579 (Alias: --external-downloader)
580 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
581 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
582 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
583 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
584 positions using the same syntax as
585 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
586 option multiple times to give different
587 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
588 --external-downloader-args)
590 ## Filesystem Options:
591 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
592 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
593 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
594 comments and ignored
595 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
596 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
597 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
598 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
599 TYPES as --output are supported.
600 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
601 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
602 files are first downloaded to the temp path
603 and then the final files are moved over to
604 the home path after download is finished.
605 This option is ignored if --output is an
606 absolute path
607 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
608 TEMPLATE" for details
609 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
610 --output (default: "NA")
611 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
612 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
613 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
614 filenames (default)
615 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
616 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
617 using Windows (default)
618 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
619 extension) to the specified number of
620 characters
621 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
622 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
623 option includes --no-continue
624 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
625 related files (default)
626 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
627 (default)
628 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
629 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
630 restart download of the entire file
631 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
632 into output file (default)
633 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
634 output file
635 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
636 modification time (default)
637 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
638 the file modification time
639 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
640 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
641 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
642 (this may contain personal information)
643 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
644 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
645 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
646 --write-description etc. (default)
647 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
648 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
649 --clean-info-json Remove some internal metadata such as
650 filenames from the infojson (default)
651 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
652 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
653 infojson. The comments are fetched even
654 without this option if the extraction is
655 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
656 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
657 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
658 --no-get-comments)
659 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
660 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
661 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
662 and dump cookie jar in
663 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
664 (default)
665 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
666 The name of the browser to load cookies
667 from. Currently supported browsers are:
668 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
669 opera, safari, vivaldi, whale. Optionally,
670 the KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium
671 cookies on Linux, the name/path of the
672 PROFILE to load cookies from, and the
673 CONTAINER name (if Firefox) ("none" for no
674 container) can be given with their
675 respective separators. By default, all
676 containers of the most recently accessed
677 profile are used. Currently supported
678 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring,
679 kwallet, kwallet5, kwallet6
680 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
681 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
682 store some downloaded information (such as
683 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
684 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
685 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
686 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
688 ## Thumbnail Options:
689 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
690 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
691 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
692 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
693 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
695 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
696 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
697 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
698 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
699 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
700 OS caches the URL based on the file path
701 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
702 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
704 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
705 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
706 print the log to stderr
707 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
708 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
709 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
710 anything to disk
711 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
712 options are used
713 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
714 extracting metadata even if the videos are
715 not actually available for download
716 (experimental)
717 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
718 formats are found (default)
719 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
720 related files (Alias: --no-download)
721 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
722 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
723 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
724 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
725 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
726 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
727 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
728 used. This option can be used multiple times
729 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
730 Append given template to the file. The
731 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are the same as
732 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
733 as the output template. This option can be
734 used multiple times
735 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
736 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
737 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
738 description of available keys
739 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
740 URL or infojson passed. Simulate unless
741 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
742 a playlist, the whole playlist information
743 is dumped in a single line
744 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
745 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
746 another simulation option is used (Alias:
747 --force-download-archive)
748 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
749 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
750 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
751 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
752 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
753 Template for progress outputs, optionally
754 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
755 "download-title:" (the console title),
756 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
757 The video's fields are accessible under the
758 "info" key and the progress attributes are
759 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
760 --console-title --progress-template
761 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
762 --progress-delta SECONDS Time between progress output (default: 0)
763 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
764 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
765 to debug problems (very verbose)
766 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
767 in the current directory to debug problems
768 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
770 ## Workarounds:
771 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
772 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
773 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
774 renegotiation
775 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
776 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
777 information about the video (Currently
778 supported only for YouTube)
779 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
780 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
781 option multiple times
782 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
783 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
784 or fribidi executable in PATH
785 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
786 during data extraction
787 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
788 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
789 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
790 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
791 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
792 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
793 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
794 subtitle download
796 ## Video Format Options:
797 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
798 for more details
799 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
800 "Sorting Formats" for more details
801 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
802 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
803 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
804 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
805 specified sort order (default)
806 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
807 into a single file
808 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
809 output file (default)
810 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
811 into a single file
812 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
813 output file (default)
814 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
815 over non-free ones of the same quality. Use
816 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
817 containers irrespective of quality
818 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
819 containers (default)
820 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
821 those that are actually downloadable
822 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
823 actually downloadable
824 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
825 downloadable
826 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
827 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
828 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
829 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
830 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
831 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
833 ## Subtitle Options:
834 --write-subs Write subtitle file
835 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
836 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
837 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
838 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
839 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
840 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
841 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
842 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference
843 separated by "/", e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
844 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
845 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
846 --sub-langs "en.*,ja" (where "en.*" is a
847 regex pattern that matches "en" followed by
848 0 or more of any character). You can prefix
849 the language code with a "-" to exclude it
850 from the requested languages, e.g. --sub-
851 langs all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a
852 list of available language tags
854 ## Authentication Options:
855 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
856 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
857 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
858 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
859 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
860 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
861 either the path or its containing directory.
862 Defaults to ~/.netrc
863 --netrc-cmd NETRC_CMD Command to execute to get the credentials
864 for an extractor.
865 --video-password PASSWORD Video-specific password
866 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
867 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
868 a list of available MSOs
869 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
870 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
871 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
872 interactively
873 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
874 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
875 format. May include the private key
876 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
877 Path to private key file for client
878 certificate
879 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
880 Password for client certificate private key,
881 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
882 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
884 ## Post-Processing Options:
885 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
886 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
887 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
888 used. (currently supported: best (default),
889 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
890 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
891 similar syntax as --remux-video
892 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
893 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
894 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
895 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
896 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
897 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
898 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
899 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
900 wav). If the target container does not
901 support the video/audio codec, remuxing will
902 fail. You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
903 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
904 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
905 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
906 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
907 are the same as --remux-video
908 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
909 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
910 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
911 to give the argument to the specified
912 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
913 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
914 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
915 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
916 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
917 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
918 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
919 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
920 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
921 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
922 specified executable only when being used by
923 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
924 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
925 appended to the prefix optionally followed
926 by a number to pass the argument before the
927 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
928 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
929 this option multiple times to give different
930 arguments to different postprocessors.
931 (Alias: --ppa)
932 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
933 after post-processing
934 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
935 post-processing (default)
936 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
937 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
938 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
939 webm and mkv videos)
940 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
941 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
942 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
943 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
944 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
945 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
946 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
947 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
948 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
949 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
950 (Alias: --add-chapters)
951 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
952 --no-add-chapters)
953 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
954 mkv/mka video files
955 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
956 to the video file
957 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
958 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
959 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
960 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
961 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
962 (default: pre_process)
963 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
964 Replace text in a metadata field using the
965 given regex. This option can be used
966 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
967 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
968 (default: pre_process)
969 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
970 (using Dublin Core and XDG standards)
971 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
972 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
973 (default; only when the videos form a single
974 show). All the video files must have the
975 same codecs and number of streams to be
976 concatenable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
977 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
978 the output filename for the concatenated
979 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
980 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
981 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
982 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
983 default; fix the file if we can, warn
984 otherwise), force (try fixing even if the
985 file already exists)
986 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
987 path to the binary or its containing directory
988 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
989 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
990 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
991 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
992 after_move). The same syntax as the output
993 template can be used to pass any field as
994 arguments to the command. If no fields are
995 passed, %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended
996 to the end of the command. This option can
997 be used multiple times
998 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
999 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
1000 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt).
1001 Use "--convert-subs none" to disable
1002 conversion (default) (Alias: --convert-
1003 subtitles)
1004 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
1005 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1006 can specify multiple rules using similar
1007 syntax as "--remux-video". Use "--convert-
1008 thumbnails none" to disable conversion
1009 (default)
1010 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1011 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1012 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1013 the output filename for the split files. See
1014 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1015 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
1016 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1017 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1018 same as --download-sections. This option can
1019 be used multiple times
1020 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1021 (default)
1022 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1023 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1024 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1025 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1026 around the cuts
1027 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1028 when cutting/splitting (default)
1029 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1030 The (case-sensitive) name of plugin
1031 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1032 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1033 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1034 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1035 The "when" argument determines when the
1036 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1037 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1038 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1039 "video" (after --format; before
1040 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1041 video download), "post_process" (after each
1042 video download; default), "after_move"
1043 (after moving the video file to its final
1044 location), "after_video" (after downloading
1045 and processing all formats of a video), or
1046 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1047 can be used multiple times to add different
1048 postprocessors
1050 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1051 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1052 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1053 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1055 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1056 for, separated by commas. Available
1057 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1058 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1059 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1060 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1061 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1062 for descriptions of the categories. E.g.
1063 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1064 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1065 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1066 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1067 category is present in both mark and remove,
1068 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1069 available categories are the same as for
1070 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1071 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
1072 chapter are not available
1073 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1074 An output template for the title of the
1075 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1076 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1077 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1078 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1079 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1080 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1081 --sponsorblock-remove
1082 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1083 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1085 ## Extractor Options:
1086 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1087 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1088 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1089 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1090 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1091 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1092 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1093 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1094 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists into different
1095 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1096 (default)
1097 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1098 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1099 can use this option multiple times to give
1100 arguments for different extractors
1102 # CONFIGURATION
1104 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option in a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1106 1. **Main Configuration**:
1107 * The file given to `--config-location`
1108 1. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1109 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1110 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
1111 1. **Home Configuration**:
1112 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given to `-P`
1113 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
1114 1. **User Configuration**:
1115 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1116 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1117 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1118 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
1119 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1120 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1121 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1122 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1123 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1124 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
1126 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
1127 1. **System Configuration**:
1128 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1129 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1130 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1132 E.g. 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:
1133 ```
1134 # Lines starting with # are comments
1136 # Always extract audio
1137 -x
1139 # Do not copy the mtime
1140 --no-mtime
1142 # Use this proxy
1143 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1145 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1146 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1147 ```
1149 **Note**: Options in a configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary, as if it were a UNIX shell.
1151 You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
1153 ### Configuration file encoding
1155 The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
1157 If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
1159 ### Authentication with netrc
1161 You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per-extractor basis. For that, you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
1162 ```
1163 touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1164 chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
1165 ```
1166 After that, you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1167 ```
1168 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1169 ```
1170 E.g.
1171 ```
1172 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1173 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1174 ```
1175 To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1177 The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1179 As an alternative to using the `.netrc` file, which has the disadvantage of keeping your passwords in a plain text file, you can configure a custom shell command to provide the credentials for an extractor. This is done by providing the `--netrc-cmd` parameter, it shall output the credentials in the netrc format and return `0` on success, other values will be treated as an error. `{}` in the command will be replaced by the name of the extractor to make it possible to select the credentials for the right extractor.
1181 E.g. To use an encrypted `.netrc` file stored as `.authinfo.gpg`
1182 ```
1183 yt-dlp --netrc-cmd 'gpg --decrypt ~/.authinfo.gpg' 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1184 ```
1187 ### Notes about environment variables
1188 * Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1189 * yt-dlp also allows using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1190 * If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1191 * On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1192 * On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
1194 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1196 The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
1198 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1199 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1200 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1202 The simplest usage of `-o` is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `yt-dlp -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` (hard-coding file extension like this is _not_ recommended and could break some post-processing).
1204 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), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1206 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1208 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7)s`, `%(id.6:2:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
1210 1. **Arithmetic**: Simple arithmetic can be done on numeric fields using `+`, `-` and `*`. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1212 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 `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1214 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1216 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator according to the [`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty. E.g. `%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`, `%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
1218 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1220 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing, `+` for Unicode), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
1222 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. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1224 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1225 ```
1226 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1227 ```
1229 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-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 is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1231 <a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
1233 **Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
1235 The available fields are:
1237 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1238 - `title` (string): Video title
1239 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1240 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1241 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1242 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1243 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1244 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1245 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1246 - `uploader_url` (string): URL to the video uploader's profile
1247 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1248 - `creators` (list): The creators of the video
1249 - `creator` (string): The creators of the video; comma-separated
1250 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1251 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1252 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1253 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1254 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the video or album was released
1255 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1256 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1257 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1258 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1259 - `channel_url` (string): URL of the channel
1260 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1261 - `channel_is_verified` (boolean): Whether the channel is verified on the platform
1262 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1263 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1264 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1265 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1266 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
1267 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1268 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1269 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1270 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating given by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1271 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
1272 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1273 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
1274 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1275 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1276 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1277 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1278 - `media_type` (string): The type of media as classified by the site, e.g. "episode", "clip", "trailer"
1279 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1280 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1281 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1282 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1283 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1284 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`, padded with leading zeros to 5 digits
1285 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1286 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1287 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1288 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1289 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_title` if available or else `playlist_id`
1290 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1291 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1292 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1293 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1294 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1295 - `playlist_channel` (string): Display name of the channel that uploaded the playlist
1296 - `playlist_channel_id` (string): Identifier of the channel that uploaded the playlist
1297 - `playlist_webpage_url` (string): URL of the playlist webpage
1298 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which, if given to yt-dlp, should yield the same result again
1299 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1300 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1301 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or the same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1302 - `categories` (list): List of categories the video belongs to
1303 - `tags` (list): List of tags assigned to the video
1304 - `cast` (list): List of cast members
1306 All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
1308 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1310 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1311 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1312 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1314 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or program:
1316 - `series` (string): Title of the series or program the video episode belongs to
1317 - `series_id` (string): Id of the series or program the video episode belongs to
1318 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1319 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1320 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1321 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1322 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1323 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1325 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1327 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1328 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1329 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1330 - `artists` (list): Artist(s) of the track
1331 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track; comma-separated
1332 - `genres` (list): Genre(s) of the track
1333 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track; comma-separated
1334 - `composers` (list): Composer(s) of the piece
1335 - `composer` (string): Composer(s) of the piece; comma-separated
1336 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1337 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1338 - `album_artists` (list): All artists appeared on the album
1339 - `album_artist` (string): All artists appeared on the album; comma-separated
1340 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1342 Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1344 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1345 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1346 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1347 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1349 Available only when used in `--print`:
1351 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1352 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
1353 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1354 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1355 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1356 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1358 Available only after the video is downloaded (`post_process`/`after_move`):
1360 - `filepath`: Actual path of downloaded video file
1362 Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1364 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1365 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1366 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
1367 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1368 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1369 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1370 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
1372 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. 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.
1374 **Note**: 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).
1376 **Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1378 For numeric sequences, you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g. `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
1380 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.
1382 To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1384 The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1386 In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
1388 #### Output template examples
1390 ```bash
1391 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1392 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1394 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1395 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1397 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1398 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1400 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1401 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1403 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1404 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1406 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1407 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist_index&{} - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1409 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1410 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1412 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1413 $ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
1415 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1416 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" "https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617"
1418 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1419 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1420 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1422 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1423 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1425 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1426 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1427 ```
1429 # FORMAT SELECTION
1431 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1432 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`.
1434 **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.
1436 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.
1438 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1439 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1440 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1442 The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
1444 You can also use a file extension (currently `3gp`, `aac`, `flv`, `m4a`, `mp3`, `mp4`, `ogg`, `wav`, `webm` are supported) to download the best quality format of a particular file extension served as a single file, e.g. `-f webm` will download the best quality format with the `webm` extension served as a single file.
1446 You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1448 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1450 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1451 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1452 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (i.e.; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
1453 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1454 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1455 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1456 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1457 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
1458 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1459 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1460 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
1461 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1462 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
1463 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
1465 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is, however, recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1467 You can select the n'th best format of a type by using `best<type>.<n>`. For example, `best.2` will select the 2nd best combined format. Similarly, `bv*.3` will select the 3rd best format that contains a video stream.
1469 If you want to download multiple videos, and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred; e.g. `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
1471 If you want to download several formats of the same video use a comma as a separator, e.g. `-f 22,17,18` will download all these three formats, of course if they are available. Or a more sophisticated example combined with the precedence feature: `-f 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio`.
1473 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1475 **Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1477 Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
1479 ## Filtering Formats
1481 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"` since filters without a selector are interpreted as `best`).
1483 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1485 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1486 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
1487 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1488 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1489 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
1490 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1491 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1492 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1493 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1494 - `fps`: Frame rate
1495 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1496 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
1498 Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1500 - `url`: Video URL
1501 - `ext`: File extension
1502 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1503 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1504 - `container`: Name of the container format
1505 - `protocol`: The protocol that will be used for the actual download, lower-case (`http`, `https`, `rtsp`, `rtmp`, `rtmpe`, `mms`, `f4m`, `ism`, `http_dash_segments`, `m3u8`, or `m3u8_native`)
1506 - `language`: Language code
1507 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1508 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1509 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1510 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1511 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
1513 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
1515 **Note**: None of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by the particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
1517 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "bv[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 kbps. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
1519 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
1521 ## Sorting Formats
1523 You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1525 The available fields are:
1527 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1528 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
1529 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1530 - `lang`: The language preference
1531 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1532 - `source`: The preference of the source
1533 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1534 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1535 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
1536 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
1537 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1538 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
1539 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
1540 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1541 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize
1542 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1543 - `height`: Height of video
1544 - `width`: Width of video
1545 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1546 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1547 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
1548 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
1549 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1550 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1551 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1552 - `br`: Average bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec"), `tbr`/`vbr`/`abr`
1553 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1555 **Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
1557 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. E.g. `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. E.g. `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. E.g. `+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. E.g. `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1559 The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behavior can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1561 Note that the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. Dolby Vision is not preferred. This choice was made since DV formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future.
1563 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`.
1565 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1567 ## Format Selection examples
1569 ```bash
1570 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1571 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1572 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1574 # Download best format that contains video,
1575 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1576 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1578 # Same as above
1579 $ yt-dlp
1581 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1582 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1583 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1584 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1586 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1587 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1588 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1590 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1591 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1592 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1595 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1596 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1598 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1599 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1601 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1602 $ yt-dlp -S "+res"
1604 # Download the smallest video available
1605 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1609 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1610 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1612 # Download the best video with the best extension
1613 # (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1614 $ yt-dlp -S "ext"
1618 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1619 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1620 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1622 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1623 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1624 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1626 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1627 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1628 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1629 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1630 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1634 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1635 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1636 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1638 # Download the largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1639 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1640 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1642 # Download the best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1643 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1647 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1648 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1649 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1651 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1652 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1653 $ yt-dlp -S "proto"
1657 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1658 # or the best video if there is no such video
1659 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1661 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1662 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1663 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1665 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1666 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1667 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1671 # More complex examples
1673 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1674 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1675 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1677 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1678 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1679 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1680 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1684 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1685 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1686 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1687 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1688 ```
1690 # MODIFYING METADATA
1692 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1694 `--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE` is used to replace text in any metadata field using [Python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax). [Backreferences](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html?highlight=backreferences#re.sub) can be used in the replace string for advanced use.
1696 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [Python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
1698 Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and vice versa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
1700 This option also has a few special uses:
1702 * 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. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)"` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1704 * 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". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
1706 **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.
1708 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1710 Metadata fields | From
1711 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1712 `title` | `track` or `title`
1713 `date` | `upload_date`
1714 `description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1715 `purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1716 `track` | `track_number`
1717 `artist` | `artist`, `artists`, `creator`, `creators`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1718 `composer` | `composer` or `composers`
1719 `genre` | `genre` or `genres`
1720 `album` | `album`
1721 `album_artist` | `album_artist` or `album_artists`
1722 `disc` | `disc_number`
1723 `show` | `series`
1724 `season_number` | `season_number`
1725 `episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1726 `episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1727 `language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1729 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1732 ## Modifying metadata examples
1734 ```bash
1735 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1736 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1738 # Regex example
1739 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1741 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1742 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1744 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1745 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
1747 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1748 # handling multiple lines correctly
1749 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
1751 # Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1752 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1754 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1755 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "video::(?P<formats>)" --write-info-json
1757 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1758 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1760 ```
1762 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1764 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=tv,mweb;formats=incomplete" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1766 Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1768 The following extractors use this feature:
1770 #### youtube
1771 * `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
1772 * `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
1773 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `ios` and `android`, with variants `_music` and `_creator` (e.g. `ios_creator`); and `mweb`, `android_vr`, `web_safari`, `web_embedded`, `tv` and `tv_embedded` with no variants. By default, `ios,mweb` is used, or `web_creator,mweb` is used when authenticating with cookies. The `_music` variants are added for `music.youtube.com` URLs. Some clients, such as `web` and `android`, require a `po_token` for their formats to be downloadable. Some clients, such as the `_creator` variants, will only work with authentication. Not all clients support authentication via cookies. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients. You can prefix a client with `-` to exclude it, e.g. `youtube:player_client=all,-web`
1774 * `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
1775 * `player_params`: YouTube player parameters to use for player requests. Will overwrite any default ones set by yt-dlp.
1776 * `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1777 * `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`
1778 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
1779 * `formats`: Change the types of formats to return. `dashy` (convert HTTP to DASH), `duplicate` (identical content but different URLs or protocol; includes `dashy`), `incomplete` (cannot be downloaded completely - live dash and post-live m3u8)
1780 * `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
1781 * `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests. By default, no API key is used
1782 * `raise_incomplete_data`: `Incomplete Data Received` raises an error instead of reporting a warning
1783 * `data_sync_id`: Overrides the account Data Sync ID used in Innertube API requests. This may be needed if you are using an account with `youtube:player_skip=webpage,configs` or `youtubetab:skip=webpage`
1784 * `visitor_data`: Overrides the Visitor Data used in Innertube API requests. This should be used with `player_skip=webpage,configs` and without cookies. Note: this may have adverse effects if used improperly. If a session from a browser is wanted, you should pass cookies instead (which contain the Visitor ID)
1785 * `po_token`: Proof of Origin (PO) Token(s) to use for requesting video playback. Comma seperated list of PO Tokens in the format `CLIENT+PO_TOKEN`, e.g. `youtube:po_token=web+XXX,android+YYY`
1787 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1788 * `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)
1789 * `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1791 #### generic
1792 * `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Note that if the stream has an HLS AES-128 key, then the query parameters will be passed to the key URI as well, unless the `key_query` extractor-arg is passed, or unless an external key URI is provided via the `hls_key` extractor-arg. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1793 * `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
1794 * `key_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its HLS AES-128 decryption key URI if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `key_query=VALUE`. Note that this will have no effect if the key URI is provided via the `hls_key` extractor-arg. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1795 * `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
1796 * `is_live`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status` - a value of `false` will set `not_live`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live`
1797 * `impersonate`: Target(s) to try and impersonate with the initial webpage request; e.g. `generic:impersonate=safari,chrome-110`. Use `generic:impersonate` to impersonate any available target, and use `generic:impersonate=false` to disable impersonation (default)
1799 #### funimation
1800 * `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1801 * `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1803 #### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
1804 * `hardsub`: One or more hardsub versions to extract (in order of preference), or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs will be extracted), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,de-DE`
1806 #### vikichannel
1807 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
1809 #### niconico
1810 * `segment_duration`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1812 #### youtubewebarchive
1813 * `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1815 #### gamejolt
1816 * `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1818 #### hotstar
1819 * `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1820 * `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1821 * `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1823 #### niconicochannelplus
1824 * `max_comments`: Maximum number of comments to extract - default is `120`
1826 #### tiktok
1827 * `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API calls, e.g. `api22-normal-c-alisg.tiktokv.com`
1828 * `app_name`: Default app name to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `trill`
1829 * `app_version`: Default app version to use with mobile API calls - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `34.1.2`
1830 * `manifest_app_version`: Default numeric app version to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `2023401020`
1831 * `aid`: Default app ID to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `1180`
1832 * `app_info`: Enable mobile API extraction with one or more app info strings in the format of `<iid>/[app_name]/[app_version]/[manifest_app_version]/[aid]`, where `iid` is the unique app install ID. `iid` is the only required value; all other values and their `/` separators can be omitted, e.g. `tiktok:app_info=1234567890123456789` or `tiktok:app_info=123,456/trill///1180,789//34.0.1/340001`
1833 * `device_id`: Enable mobile API extraction with a genuine device ID to be used with mobile API calls. Default is a random 19-digit string
1835 #### rokfinchannel
1836 * `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
1838 #### twitter
1839 * `api`: Select one of `graphql` (default), `legacy` or `syndication` as the API for tweet extraction. Has no effect if logged in
1841 #### stacommu, wrestleuniverse
1842 * `device_id`: UUID value assigned by the website and used to enforce device limits for paid livestream content. Can be found in browser local storage
1844 #### twitch
1845 * `client_id`: Client ID value to be sent with GraphQL requests, e.g. `twitch:client_id=kimne78kx3ncx6brgo4mv6wki5h1ko`
1847 #### nhkradirulive (NHK らじる★らじる LIVE)
1848 * `area`: Which regional variation to extract. Valid areas are: `sapporo`, `sendai`, `tokyo`, `nagoya`, `osaka`, `hiroshima`, `matsuyama`, `fukuoka`. Defaults to `tokyo`
1850 #### nflplusreplay
1851 * `type`: Type(s) of game replays to extract. Valid types are: `full_game`, `full_game_spanish`, `condensed_game` and `all_22`. You can use `all` to extract all available replay types, which is the default
1853 #### jiocinema
1854 * `refresh_token`: The `refreshToken` UUID from browser local storage can be passed to extend the life of your login session when logging in with `token` as username and the `accessToken` from browser local storage as password
1856 #### jiosaavn
1857 * `bitrate`: Audio bitrates to request. One or more of `16`, `32`, `64`, `128`, `320`. Default is `128,320`
1859 #### afreecatvlive
1860 * `cdn`: One or more CDN IDs to use with the API call for stream URLs, e.g. `gcp_cdn`, `gs_cdn_pc_app`, `gs_cdn_mobile_web`, `gs_cdn_pc_web`
1862 #### soundcloud
1863 * `formats`: Formats to request from the API. Requested values should be in the format of `{protocol}_{codec}`, e.g. `hls_opus,http_aac`. The `*` character functions as a wildcard, e.g. `*_mp3`, and can be passed by itself to request all formats. Known protocols include `http`, `hls` and `hls-aes`; known codecs include `aac`, `opus` and `mp3`. Original `download` formats are always extracted. Default is `http_aac,hls_aac,http_opus,hls_opus,http_mp3,hls_mp3`
1865 #### orfon (orf:on)
1866 * `prefer_segments_playlist`: Prefer a playlist of program segments instead of a single complete video when available. If individual segments are desired, use `--concat-playlist never --extractor-args "orfon:prefer_segments_playlist"`
1868 #### bilibili
1869 * `prefer_multi_flv`: Prefer extracting flv formats over mp4 for older videos that still provide legacy formats
1871 #### sonylivseries
1872 * `sort_order`: Episode sort order for series extraction - one of `asc` (ascending, oldest first) or `desc` (descending, newest first). Default is `asc`
1874 **Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1876 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1879 # PLUGINS
1881 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!**
1883 Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1884 - Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1885 - Extractor plugins take priority over built-in extractors.
1886 - Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1889 Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
1891 In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1893 yt_dlp_plugins/
1894 extractor/
1895 myplugin.py
1896 postprocessor/
1897 myplugin.py
1899 yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
1900 Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS` to something nonempty to disable loading plugins entirely.
1902 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1904 ## Installing Plugins
1906 Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1908 1. **Configuration directories**:
1909 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1910 * **User Plugins**
1911 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1912 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1913 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
1914 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1915 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1916 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1917 * **System Plugins**
1918 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1919 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1920 2. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
1921 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1922 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1924 3. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
1925 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
1926 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
1927 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1928 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller builds.
1931 `.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
1933 * e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
1935 Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
1937 ## Developing Plugins
1939 See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
1941 All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors respectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`).
1943 To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
1945 If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
1947 See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
1949 # EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1951 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1953 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.
1955 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1957 ```python
1958 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1960 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1961 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1962 ydl.download(URLS)
1963 ```
1965 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#L183) or `help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)` in a Python shell. If you are already familiar with the CLI, you can use [`devscripts/cli_to_api.py`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/devscripts/cli_to_api.py) to translate any CLI switches to `YoutubeDL` params.
1967 **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)
1969 ## Embedding examples
1971 #### Extracting information
1973 ```python
1974 import json
1975 import yt_dlp
1977 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1979 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1980 ydl_opts = {}
1981 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1982 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1984 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1985 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1986 ```
1987 #### Download using an info-json
1989 ```python
1990 import yt_dlp
1992 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1994 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1995 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1997 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1998 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1999 ```
2001 #### Extract audio
2003 ```python
2004 import yt_dlp
2006 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2008 ydl_opts = {
2009 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
2010 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
2011 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
2012 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
2013 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
2014 }]
2015 }
2017 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2018 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2019 ```
2021 #### Filter videos
2023 ```python
2024 import yt_dlp
2026 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2028 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
2029 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
2030 duration = info.get('duration')
2031 if duration and duration < 60:
2032 return 'The video is too short'
2034 ydl_opts = {
2035 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2036 }
2038 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2039 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2040 ```
2042 #### Adding logger and progress hook
2044 ```python
2045 import yt_dlp
2047 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2049 class MyLogger:
2050 def debug(self, msg):
2051 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
2052 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2053 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2054 pass
2055 else:
2056 self.info(msg)
2058 def info(self, msg):
2059 pass
2061 def warning(self, msg):
2062 pass
2064 def error(self, msg):
2065 print(msg)
2068 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2069 def my_hook(d):
2070 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2071 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2074 ydl_opts = {
2075 'logger': MyLogger(),
2076 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2077 }
2079 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2080 ydl.download(URLS)
2081 ```
2083 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
2085 ```python
2086 import yt_dlp
2088 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2090 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
2091 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
2092 def run(self, info):
2093 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2094 return [], info
2097 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
2098 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2099 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
2100 ydl.download(URLS)
2101 ```
2104 #### Use a custom format selector
2106 ```python
2107 import yt_dlp
2109 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2111 def format_selector(ctx):
2112 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
2113 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
2115 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2116 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2118 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2119 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2120 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2122 # find compatible audio extension
2123 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2124 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2125 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2126 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2128 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
2129 yield {
2130 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2131 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2132 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
2133 # Must be + separated list of protocols
2134 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2135 }
2138 ydl_opts = {
2139 'format': format_selector,
2140 }
2142 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2143 ydl.download(URLS)
2144 ```
2147 # CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL
2149 ### New features
2151 * Forked from [**yt-dlc@f9401f2**](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee) and merged with [**youtube-dl@a08f2b7**](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/a08f2b7e4567cdc50c0614ee0a4ffdff49b8b6e6) ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))
2153 * **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
2155 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
2157 * **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 NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
2159 * **YouTube improvements**:
2160 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
2161 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
2162 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
2163 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
2164 * Support for [logging in with OAuth](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Extractors#logging-in-with-oauth)
2166 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
2168 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
2170 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
2172 * **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
2174 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
2176 * **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
2178 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
2180 * **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
2182 * **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`)
2184 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
2186 * **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
2188 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-match-filters` etc
2190 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filters`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
2192 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
2194 * **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
2196 * **Automated builds**: [Nightly/master builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly` and `--update-to master`
2198 See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
2200 Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
2202 ### Differences in default behavior
2204 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
2206 * yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.9+](## "Windows 8"), and will remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
2207 * The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
2208 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
2209 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
2210 * 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`
2211 * 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. Older versions of yt-dlp preferred VP9 due to its broader compatibility; you can use `--compat-options prefer-vp9-sort` to revert to that format sorting preference. These two compat options cannot be used together
2212 * The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
2213 * 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
2214 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
2215 * 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
2216 * `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
2217 * Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
2218 * `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
2219 * The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
2220 * Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
2221 * YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. If the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. 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
2222 * Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
2223 * The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC [when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use `--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
2224 * 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
2225 * Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
2226 * Some internal metadata such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
2227 * When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
2228 * `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
2229 * yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
2230 * ~~yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: [aria2c](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is~~
2231 * yt-dlp versions between 2021.09.01 and 2023.01.02 applies `--match-filters` to nested playlists. This was an unintentional side-effect of [8f18ac](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/8f18aca8717bb0dd49054555af8d386e5eda3a88) and is fixed in [d7b460](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/d7b460d0e5fc710950582baed2e3fc616ed98a80). Use `--compat-options playlist-match-filter` to revert this
2232 * yt-dlp versions between 2021.11.10 and 2023.06.21 estimated `filesize_approx` values for fragmented/manifest formats. This was added for convenience in [f2fe69](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/f2fe69c7b0d208bdb1f6292b4ae92bc1e1a7444a), but was reverted in [0dff8e](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/0dff8e4d1e6e9fb938f4256ea9af7d81f42fd54f) due to the potentially extreme inaccuracy of the estimated values. Use `--compat-options manifest-filesize-approx` to keep extracting the estimated values
2233 * yt-dlp uses modern http client backends such as `requests`. Use `--compat-options prefer-legacy-http-handler` to prefer the legacy http handler (`urllib`) to be used for standard http requests.
2234 * The sub-modules `swfinterp`, `casefold` are removed.
2235 * Passing `--simulate` (or calling `extract_info` with `download=False`) no longer alters the default format selection. See [#9843](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/9843) for details.
2237 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
2239 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (**Do NOT use this!**)
2240 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx,-allow-unsafe-ext,-prefer-vp9-sort`
2241 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx,-allow-unsafe-ext,-prefer-vp9-sort`
2242 * `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
2243 * `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options 2023,playlist-match-filter,no-external-downloader-progress,prefer-legacy-http-handler,manifest-filesize-approx`
2244 * `--compat-options 2023`: Same as `--compat-options prefer-vp9-sort`. Use this to enable all future compat options
2246 The following compat options restore vulnerable behavior from before security patches:
2248 * `--compat-options allow-unsafe-ext`: Allow files with any extension (including unsafe ones) to be downloaded ([GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j](<https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j>))
2250 > :warning: Only use if a valid file download is rejected because its extension is detected as uncommon
2251 >
2252 > **This option can enable remote code execution! Consider [opening an issue](<https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/new/choose>) instead!**
2254 ### Deprecated options
2256 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2258 #### Almost redundant options
2259 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2261 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2262 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
2263 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
2264 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2266 #### Redundant options
2267 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
2269 --get-description --print description
2270 --get-duration --print duration_string
2271 --get-filename --print filename
2272 --get-format --print format
2273 --get-id --print id
2274 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2275 -e, --get-title --print title
2276 -g, --get-url --print urls
2277 --match-title REGEX --match-filters "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2278 --reject-title REGEX --match-filters "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2279 --min-views COUNT --match-filters "view_count >=? COUNT"
2280 --max-views COUNT --match-filters "view_count <=? COUNT"
2281 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filters
2282 --user-agent UA --add-headers "User-Agent:UA"
2283 --referer URL --add-headers "Referer:URL"
2284 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2285 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2286 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2287 --no-playlist-reverse Default
2288 --no-colors --color no_color
2290 #### Not recommended
2291 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2293 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
2294 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2295 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2296 --all-formats -f all
2297 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2298 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2299 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
2300 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2301 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2302 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2303 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2304 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2305 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2306 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2307 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2308 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2309 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2310 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2311 --geo-bypass --xff "default"
2312 --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
2313 --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
2314 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
2316 #### Developer options
2317 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2319 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2320 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2321 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2322 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2323 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2325 #### Old aliases
2326 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2328 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2329 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2330 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2331 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2332 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2333 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2334 --load-info --load-info-json
2335 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2336 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2337 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2338 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2339 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2340 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2341 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2342 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2343 --write-srt --write-subs
2344 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2346 #### Sponskrub Options
2347 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
2349 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2350 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2351 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2352 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2353 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2354 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2355 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2356 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2358 #### No longer supported
2359 These options may no longer work as intended
2361 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2362 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2363 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2364 --no-call-home Default
2365 --include-ads No longer supported
2366 --no-include-ads Default
2367 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2368 --no-write-annotations Default
2369 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
2370 --compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date No longer supported
2372 #### Removed
2373 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2375 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2376 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2379 # CONTRIBUTING
2380 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)
2382 # WIKI
2383 See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information