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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 [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
29 * [Update](#update)
30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
32 * [Compile](#compile)
33 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
50 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
52 * [Authentication with netrc](#authentication-with-netrc)
53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
54 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
56 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
60 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
62 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
63 * [PLUGINS](#plugins)
64 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
65 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
66 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
67 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
68 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
69 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
70 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
71 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
72 * [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
73 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
74 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
77 # NEW FEATURES
79 * Forked from [**yt-dlc@f9401f2**](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee) and merged with [**youtube-dl@be008e6**](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/be008e657d79832642e2158557c899249c9e31cd) ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))
81 * **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
83 * **[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))
85 * **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.
87 * **YouTube improvements**:
88 * 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`)
89 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
90 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
92 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
94 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
96 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
98 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
100 * **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
102 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
104 * **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)
106 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
108 * **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
110 * **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`)
112 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
114 * **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`
116 * **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-filter` etc
118 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, 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
120 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
122 * **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
124 * **Automated builds**: [Nightly/master builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly` and `--update-to master`
126 See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
128 Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
130 ### Differences in default behavior
132 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
134 * yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.8+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* 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)
135 * The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
136 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
137 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
138 * 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`
139 * 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
140 * 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
141 * 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
142 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
143 * 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
144 * `--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
145 * 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
146 * `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
147 * The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
148 * 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
149 * 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
150 * Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
151 * 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.
152 * 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
153 * Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
154 * 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
155 * 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
156 * `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`
157 * 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
158 * 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
159 * yt-dlp versions between 2021.09.01 and 2023.01.02 applies `--match-filter` 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
160 * 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
161 * 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.
162 * The sub-module `swfinterp` is removed.
164 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
166 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
167 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx`
168 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx`
169 * `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
170 * `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options 2023,playlist-match-filter,no-external-downloader-progress,prefer-legacy-http-handler,manifest-filesize-approx`
171 * `--compat-options 2023`: Currently does nothing. Use this to enable all future compat options
174 # INSTALLATION
176 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
177 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
178 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
179 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
180 [](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
181 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
182 [](#release-files)
183 [](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
184 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
186 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
189 ## UPDATE
190 You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
192 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
194 For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
196 <a id="update-channels"/>
198 There are currently three release channels for binaries: `stable`, `nightly` and `master`.
200 * `stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the `nightly` and `master` channels.
201 * 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).
202 * 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).
204 When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
205 `--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.
207 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.
209 Example usage:
210 * `yt-dlp --update-to master` switch to the `master` channel and update to its latest release
211 * `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.07.06` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.07.06`
212 * `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.10.07` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.10.07` if it exists on the current channel
213 * `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`
215 **Important**: Any user experiencing an issue with the `stable` release should install or update to the `nightly` release before submitting a bug report:
216 ```
217 # To update to nightly from stable executable/binary:
218 yt-dlp --update-to nightly
220 # To install nightly with pip:
221 python -m pip install -U --pre yt-dlp[default]
222 ```
224 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
225 ## RELEASE FILES
227 #### Recommended
229 File|Description
230 :---|:---
231 [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**)
232 [yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
233 [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**)
235 #### Alternatives
237 File|Description
238 :---|:---
239 [yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
240 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
241 [yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
242 [yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
243 [yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
244 [yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
245 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
246 [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)
247 [yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
249 #### Misc
251 File|Description
252 :---|:---
253 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
254 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
255 [SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
256 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
257 [SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
259 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)
260 Example usage:
261 ```
262 curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
263 gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
264 gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
265 ```
266 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
268 **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)
270 ## DEPENDENCIES
271 Python versions 3.8+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
273 <!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
274 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
275 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.
276 -->
278 While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
280 ### Strongly recommended
282 * [**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)
284 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
286 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
288 ### Networking
289 * [**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)
290 * [**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>
291 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
292 * [**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)
294 ### Metadata
296 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
297 * [**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)
298 * [**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
300 ### Misc
302 * [**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)
303 * [**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)
304 * [**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)
305 * Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
307 ### Deprecated
309 * [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
310 * [**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)
311 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
312 * [**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)
314 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
316 The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
318 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
321 ## COMPILE
323 ### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
324 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 architecture (x86/ARM, 32/64 bit) as the Python used. You can run the following commands:
326 ```
327 python3 devscripts/install_deps.py --include pyinstaller
328 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
329 python3 -m bundle.pyinstaller
330 ```
332 On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
334 `bundle/pyinstaller.py` 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).
336 **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.
338 **Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `bundle/pyinstaller.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
340 ### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
341 You will need the build tools `python` (3.8+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
343 After installing these, simply run `make`.
345 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)
347 ### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
349 While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
351 If you wish to build it anyway, install Python (if it is not already installed) and you can run the following commands:
353 ```
354 py devscripts/install_deps.py --include py2exe
355 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
356 py -m bundle.py2exe
357 ```
359 ### Related scripts
361 * **`devscripts/install_deps.py`** - Install dependencies for yt-dlp.
362 * **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current date.
363 * **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
364 * **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
365 * **`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=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
367 Note: See their `--help` for more info.
369 ### Forking the project
370 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.
372 # USAGE AND OPTIONS
374 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
375 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
377 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
378 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
380 <!-- Auto generated -->
381 ## General Options:
382 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
383 --version Print program version and exit
384 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
385 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
386 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
387 CHANNEL can be a repository as well. CHANNEL
388 and TAG default to "stable" and "latest"
389 respectively if omitted; See "UPDATE" for
390 details. Supported channels: stable,
391 nightly, master
392 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
393 The download will be considered successful
394 even if the postprocessing fails
395 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
396 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
397 playlist (default)
398 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
399 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
400 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
401 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
402 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
403 extractors and exit
404 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
405 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
406 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
407 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
408 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
409 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
410 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
411 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
412 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
413 google videos for the search term "python".
414 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
415 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
416 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
417 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
418 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
419 possible instead of searching
420 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
421 except those given by --config-locations.
422 For backward compatibility, if this option
423 is found inside the system configuration
424 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
425 (Alias: --no-config)
426 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
427 (default). When given inside a configuration
428 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
429 defined in the current file
430 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
431 either the path to the config or its
432 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
433 used multiple times and inside other
434 configuration files
435 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
436 only list them
437 --no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
438 (default)
439 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
440 Currently only supported for YouTube
441 (Experimental)
442 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
443 (default)
444 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
445 available. Pass the minimum number of
446 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
447 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
448 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
449 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
450 --color [STREAM:]POLICY Whether to emit color codes in output,
451 optionally prefixed by the STREAM (stdout or
452 stderr) to apply the setting to. Can be one
453 of "always", "auto" (default), "never", or
454 "no_color" (use non color terminal
455 sequences). Can be used multiple times
456 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
457 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
458 configurations by reverting some of the
459 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
460 default behavior" for details
461 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
462 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
463 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
464 according to the Python string formatting
465 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
466 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
467 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
468 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
469 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
470 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
471 output. Alias options can trigger more
472 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
473 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
474 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
475 times. This option can be used multiple times
477 ## Network Options:
478 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
479 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
480 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
481 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
482 direct connection
483 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
484 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
485 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
486 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
487 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
488 default for security reasons.
490 ## Geo-restriction:
491 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
492 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
493 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
494 is not present) is used for the actual
495 downloading
496 --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
497 try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
498 "default" (only when known to be useful),
499 "never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
500 two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code
502 ## Video Selection:
503 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
504 to download. You can specify a range using
505 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
506 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
507 Use negative indices to count from the right
508 and negative STEP to download in reverse
509 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
510 playlist of size 15 will download the items
511 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
512 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
513 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
514 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
515 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
516 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
517 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
518 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
519 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
520 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
521 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
522 this date. The date formats accepted is the
523 same as --date
524 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
525 this date. The date formats accepted is the
526 same as --date
527 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
528 field can be compared with a number or a
529 string using the operators defined in
530 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
531 specify a field to match if the field is
532 present, use "!field" to check if the field
533 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
534 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
535 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
536 the filter matches if atleast one of the
537 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
538 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
539 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
540 only videos that are not live OR those that
541 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
542 field is not available) and also has a
543 description that contains the phrase "cats &
544 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
545 interactively ask whether to download each
546 video
547 --no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filter (default)
548 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
549 download process when a video is rejected
550 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
551 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
552 to a video and a playlist
553 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
554 a video and a playlist
555 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
556 age
557 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
558 archive file. Record the IDs of all
559 downloaded videos in it
560 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
561 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
562 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
563 a file that is in the archive
564 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
565 --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
566 reset per input URL
567 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
568 terminates the entire download queue
569 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
570 the playlist is skipped
572 ## Download Options:
573 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
574 video that should be downloaded concurrently
575 (default is 1)
576 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
577 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
578 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
579 below which throttling is assumed and the
580 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
581 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
582 "infinite"
583 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
584 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
585 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
586 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
587 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
588 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
589 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
590 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
591 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
592 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
593 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
594 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
595 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
596 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
597 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
598 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
599 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
600 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
601 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
602 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
603 downloading is finished
604 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
605 downloading is finished (default)
606 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
607 (default is 1024)
608 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
609 from an initial value of --buffer-size
610 (default)
611 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
612 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
613 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
614 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
615 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
616 (experimental)
617 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
618 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
619 received. This disables n_entries,
620 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
621 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
622 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
623 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
624 expected file size
625 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
626 allowing some players to play the video
627 while downloading, and reducing the chance
628 of file corruption if download is
629 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
630 live streams
631 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
632 videos. This is default when not downloading
633 live streams
634 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters that match the
635 regular expression. A "*" prefix denotes
636 time-range instead of chapter. Negative
637 timestamps are calculated from the end.
638 "*from-url" can be used to download between
639 the "start_time" and "end_time" extracted
640 from the URL. Needs ffmpeg. This option can
641 be used multiple times to download multiple
642 sections, e.g. --download-sections
643 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
644 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
645 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
646 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
647 use it for. Currently supports native,
648 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
649 wget. You can use this option multiple times
650 to set different downloaders for different
651 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
652 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
653 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
654 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
655 (Alias: --external-downloader)
656 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
657 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
658 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
659 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
660 positions using the same syntax as
661 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
662 option multiple times to give different
663 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
664 --external-downloader-args)
666 ## Filesystem Options:
667 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
668 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
669 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
670 comments and ignored
671 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
672 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
673 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
674 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
675 TYPES as --output are supported.
676 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
677 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
678 files are first downloaded to the temp path
679 and then the final files are moved over to
680 the home path after download is finished.
681 This option is ignored if --output is an
682 absolute path
683 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
684 TEMPLATE" for details
685 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
686 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
687 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
688 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
689 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
690 filenames (default)
691 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
692 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
693 using Windows (default)
694 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
695 extension) to the specified number of
696 characters
697 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
698 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
699 option includes --no-continue
700 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
701 related files (default)
702 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
703 (default)
704 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
705 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
706 restart download of the entire file
707 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
708 into output file (default)
709 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
710 output file
711 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
712 modification time (default)
713 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
714 the file modification time
715 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
716 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
717 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
718 (this may contain personal information)
719 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
720 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
721 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
722 --write-description etc. (default)
723 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
724 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
725 --clean-info-json Remove some internal metadata such as
726 filenames from the infojson (default)
727 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
728 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
729 infojson. The comments are fetched even
730 without this option if the extraction is
731 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
732 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
733 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
734 --no-get-comments)
735 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
736 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
737 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
738 and dump cookie jar in
739 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
740 (default)
741 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
742 The name of the browser to load cookies
743 from. Currently supported browsers are:
744 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
745 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
746 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
747 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
748 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
749 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
750 be given with their respective seperators.
751 By default, all containers of the most
752 recently accessed profile are used.
753 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
754 gnomekeyring, kwallet, kwallet5, kwallet6
755 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
756 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
757 store some downloaded information (such as
758 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
759 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
760 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
761 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
763 ## Thumbnail Options:
764 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
765 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
766 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
767 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
768 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
770 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
771 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
772 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
773 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
774 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
775 OS caches the URL based on the file path
776 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
777 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
779 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
780 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
781 print the log to stderr
782 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
783 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
784 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
785 anything to disk
786 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
787 options are used
788 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
789 extracting metadata even if the videos are
790 not actually available for download
791 (experimental)
792 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
793 formats are found (default)
794 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
795 related files (Alias: --no-download)
796 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
797 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
798 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
799 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
800 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
801 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
802 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
803 used. This option can be used multiple times
804 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
805 Append given template to the file. The
806 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
807 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
808 output template. This option can be used
809 multiple times
810 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
811 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
812 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
813 description of available keys
814 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
815 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
816 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
817 a playlist, the whole playlist information
818 is dumped in a single line
819 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
820 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
821 another simulation option is used (Alias:
822 --force-download-archive)
823 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
824 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
825 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
826 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
827 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
828 Template for progress outputs, optionally
829 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
830 "download-title:" (the console title),
831 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
832 The video's fields are accessible under the
833 "info" key and the progress attributes are
834 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
835 --console-title --progress-template
836 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
837 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
838 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
839 to debug problems (very verbose)
840 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
841 in the current directory to debug problems
842 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
844 ## Workarounds:
845 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
846 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
847 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
848 renegotiation
849 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
850 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
851 information about the video (Currently
852 supported only for YouTube)
853 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
854 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
855 option multiple times
856 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
857 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
858 or fribidi executable in PATH
859 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
860 during data extraction
861 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
862 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
863 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
864 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
865 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
866 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
867 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
868 subtitle download
870 ## Video Format Options:
871 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
872 for more details
873 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
874 "Sorting Formats" for more details
875 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
876 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
877 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
878 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
879 specified sort order (default)
880 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
881 into a single file
882 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
883 output file (default)
884 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
885 into a single file
886 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
887 output file (default)
888 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
889 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
890 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
891 irrespective of quality
892 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
893 containers (default)
894 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
895 those that are actually downloadable
896 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
897 actually downloadable
898 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
899 downloadable
900 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
901 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
902 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
903 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
904 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
905 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
907 ## Subtitle Options:
908 --write-subs Write subtitle file
909 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
910 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
911 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
912 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
913 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
914 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
915 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
916 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
917 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
918 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
919 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
920 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
921 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
922 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
923 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
924 of available language tags
926 ## Authentication Options:
927 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
928 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
929 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
930 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
931 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
932 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
933 either the path or its containing directory.
934 Defaults to ~/.netrc
935 --netrc-cmd NETRC_CMD Command to execute to get the credentials
936 for an extractor.
937 --video-password PASSWORD Video-specific password
938 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
939 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
940 a list of available MSOs
941 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
942 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
943 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
944 interactively
945 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
946 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
947 format. May include the private key
948 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
949 Path to private key file for client
950 certificate
951 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
952 Password for client certificate private key,
953 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
954 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
956 ## Post-Processing Options:
957 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
958 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
959 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
960 used. (currently supported: best (default),
961 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
962 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
963 similar syntax as --remux-video
964 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
965 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
966 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
967 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
968 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
969 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
970 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
971 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
972 wav). If target container does not support
973 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
974 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
975 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
976 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
977 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
978 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
979 are the same as --remux-video
980 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
981 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
982 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
983 to give the argument to the specified
984 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
985 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
986 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
987 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
988 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
989 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
990 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
991 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
992 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
993 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
994 specified executable only when being used by
995 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
996 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
997 appended to the prefix optionally followed
998 by a number to pass the argument before the
999 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
1000 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
1001 this option multiple times to give different
1002 arguments to different postprocessors.
1003 (Alias: --ppa)
1004 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
1005 after post-processing
1006 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
1007 post-processing (default)
1008 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
1009 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
1010 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
1011 webm and mkv videos)
1012 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
1013 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
1014 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
1015 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
1016 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
1017 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
1018 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
1019 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
1020 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
1021 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
1022 (Alias: --add-chapters)
1023 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
1024 --no-add-chapters)
1025 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
1026 mkv/mka video files
1027 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
1028 to the video file
1029 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
1030 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
1031 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
1032 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
1033 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1034 (default: pre_process)
1035 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
1036 Replace text in a metadata field using the
1037 given regex. This option can be used
1038 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
1039 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1040 (default: pre_process)
1041 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
1042 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
1043 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
1044 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
1045 (default; only when the videos form a single
1046 show). All the video files must have same
1047 codecs and number of streams to be
1048 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
1049 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1050 the output filename for the concatenated
1051 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1052 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
1053 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
1054 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
1055 default; fix file if we can, warn
1056 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
1057 already exists)
1058 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
1059 path to the binary or its containing directory
1060 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
1061 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
1062 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
1063 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
1064 after_move). Same syntax as the output
1065 template can be used to pass any field as
1066 arguments to the command. If no fields are
1067 passed, %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended
1068 to the end of the command. This option can
1069 be used multiple times
1070 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1071 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
1072 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
1073 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1074 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
1075 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1076 can specify multiple rules using similar
1077 syntax as --remux-video
1078 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1079 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1080 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1081 the output filename for the split files. See
1082 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1083 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
1084 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1085 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1086 same as --download-sections. This option can
1087 be used multiple times
1088 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1089 (default)
1090 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1091 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1092 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1093 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1094 around the cuts
1095 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1096 when cutting/splitting (default)
1097 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1098 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1099 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1100 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1101 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1102 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1103 The "when" argument determines when the
1104 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1105 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1106 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1107 "video" (after --format; before
1108 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1109 video download), "post_process" (after each
1110 video download; default), "after_move"
1111 (after moving video file to it's final
1112 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1113 and processing all formats of a video), or
1114 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1115 can be used multiple times to add different
1116 postprocessors
1118 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1119 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1120 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1121 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1123 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1124 for, separated by commas. Available
1125 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1126 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1127 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1128 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1129 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1130 for description of the categories. E.g.
1131 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1132 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1133 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1134 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1135 category is present in both mark and remove,
1136 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1137 available categories are the same as for
1138 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1139 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
1140 chapter are not available
1141 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1142 An output template for the title of the
1143 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1144 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1145 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1146 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1147 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1148 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1149 --sponsorblock-remove
1150 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1151 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1153 ## Extractor Options:
1154 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1155 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1156 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1157 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1158 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1159 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1160 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1161 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1162 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1163 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1164 (default)
1165 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1166 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1167 can use this option multiple times to give
1168 arguments for different extractors
1170 # CONFIGURATION
1172 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1174 1. **Main Configuration**:
1175 * The file given by `--config-location`
1176 1. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1177 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1178 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
1179 1. **Home Configuration**:
1180 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1181 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
1182 1. **User Configuration**:
1183 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1184 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1185 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1186 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
1187 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1188 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1189 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1190 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1191 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1192 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
1194 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
1195 1. **System Configuration**:
1196 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1197 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1198 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1200 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:
1201 ```
1202 # Lines starting with # are comments
1204 # Always extract audio
1205 -x
1207 # Do not copy the mtime
1208 --no-mtime
1210 # Use this proxy
1211 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1213 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1214 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1215 ```
1217 **Note**: Options in 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.
1219 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.
1221 ### Configuration file encoding
1223 The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
1225 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.
1227 ### Authentication with netrc
1229 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:
1230 ```
1231 touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1232 chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
1233 ```
1234 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1235 ```
1236 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1237 ```
1238 E.g.
1239 ```
1240 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1241 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1242 ```
1243 To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1245 The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1247 As an alternative to using the `.netrc` file, which has the disadvantage of keeping your passwords in a plain text file, you can configure a custom shell command to provide the credentials for an extractor. This is done by providing the `--netrc-cmd` parameter, it shall output the credentials in the netrc format and return `0` on success, other values will be treated as an error. `{}` in the command will be replaced by the name of the extractor to make it possible to select the credentials for the right extractor.
1249 E.g. To use an encrypted `.netrc` file stored as `.authinfo.gpg`
1250 ```
1251 yt-dlp --netrc-cmd 'gpg --decrypt ~/.authinfo.gpg' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc
1252 ```
1255 ### Notes about environment variables
1256 * Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1257 * yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1258 * If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1259 * On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1260 * On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
1262 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1264 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.
1266 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1267 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1268 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1270 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).
1272 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.
1274 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1276 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:-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
1278 1. **Arithmetic**: Simple arithmetic can be done on numeric fields using `+`, `-` and `*`. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1280 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`
1282 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1284 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`
1286 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`
1288 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)
1290 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
1292 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1293 ```
1294 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1295 ```
1297 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.
1299 <a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"/>
1301 **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.
1303 The available fields are:
1305 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1306 - `title` (string): Video title
1307 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1308 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1309 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1310 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1311 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1312 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1313 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1314 - `uploader_url` (string): URL to the video uploader's profile
1315 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1316 - `creators` (list): The creators of the video
1317 - `creator` (string): The creators of the video; comma-separated
1318 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1319 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1320 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1321 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1322 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the video or album was released
1323 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1324 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1325 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1326 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1327 - `channel_url` (string): URL of the channel
1328 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1329 - `channel_is_verified` (boolean): Whether the channel is verified on the platform
1330 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1331 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1332 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1333 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1334 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
1335 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1336 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1337 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1338 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1339 - `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)
1340 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1341 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
1342 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1343 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1344 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1345 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1346 - `media_type` (string): The type of media as classified by the site, e.g. "episode", "clip", "trailer"
1347 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1348 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1349 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1350 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1351 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1352 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`, padded with leading zeros to 5 digits
1353 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1354 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1355 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1356 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1357 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
1358 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1359 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1360 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1361 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1362 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1363 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1364 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1365 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1366 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1367 - `categories` (list): List of categories the video belongs to
1368 - `tags` (list): List of tags assigned to the video
1369 - `cast` (list): List of cast members
1371 All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
1373 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1375 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1376 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1377 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1379 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1381 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1382 - `series_id` (string): Id of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1383 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1384 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1385 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1386 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1387 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1388 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1390 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1392 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1393 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1394 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1395 - `artists` (list): Artist(s) of the track
1396 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track; comma-separated
1397 - `genres` (list): Genre(s) of the track
1398 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track; comma-separated
1399 - `composers` (list): Composer(s) of the piece
1400 - `composer` (string): Composer(s) of the piece; comma-separated
1401 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1402 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1403 - `album_artists` (list): All artists appeared on the album
1404 - `album_artist` (string): All artists appeared on the album; comma-separated
1405 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1407 Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1409 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1410 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1411 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1412 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1414 Available only when used in `--print`:
1416 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1417 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
1418 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1419 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1420 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1421 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1423 Available only after the video is downloaded (`post_process`/`after_move`):
1425 - `filepath`: Actual path of downloaded video file
1427 Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1429 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1430 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1431 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
1432 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1433 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1434 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1435 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
1437 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.
1439 **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).
1441 **Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1443 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`.
1445 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.
1447 To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1449 The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1451 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.
1453 #### Output template examples
1455 ```bash
1456 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1457 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1459 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1460 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1462 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1463 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1465 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1466 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1468 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1469 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1471 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1472 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist_index&{} - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1474 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1475 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1477 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1478 $ 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"
1480 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1481 $ 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"
1483 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1484 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1485 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1487 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1488 $ 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
1490 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1491 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1492 ```
1494 # FORMAT SELECTION
1496 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1497 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`.
1499 **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.
1501 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.
1503 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1504 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1505 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1507 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.
1509 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.
1511 You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1513 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1515 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1516 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1517 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
1518 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1519 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1520 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1521 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1522 - `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))
1523 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1524 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1525 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
1526 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1527 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
1528 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
1530 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.
1532 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.
1534 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.
1536 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`.
1538 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.
1540 **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
1542 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`.
1544 ## Filtering Formats
1546 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`).
1548 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1550 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1551 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
1552 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1553 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1554 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
1555 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1556 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1557 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1558 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1559 - `fps`: Frame rate
1560 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1561 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
1563 Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1565 - `url`: Video URL
1566 - `ext`: File extension
1567 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1568 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1569 - `container`: Name of the container format
1570 - `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`)
1571 - `language`: Language code
1572 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1573 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1574 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1575 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1576 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
1578 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 `._-`.
1580 **Note**: None of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
1582 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 KBit/s. 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.
1584 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.
1586 ## Sorting Formats
1588 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...`.
1590 The available fields are:
1592 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1593 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
1594 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1595 - `lang`: The language preference
1596 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1597 - `source`: The preference of the source
1598 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1599 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1600 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
1601 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
1602 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1603 - `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`
1604 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
1605 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1606 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize
1607 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1608 - `height`: Height of video
1609 - `width`: Width of video
1610 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1611 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1612 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
1613 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
1614 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1615 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1616 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1617 - `br`: Average bitrate in KBit/s, `tbr`/`vbr`/`abr`
1618 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1620 **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.
1622 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.
1624 The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:vp9.2,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.
1626 Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1628 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`.
1630 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1632 ## Format Selection examples
1634 ```bash
1635 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1636 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1637 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1639 # Download best format that contains video,
1640 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1641 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1643 # Same as above
1644 $ yt-dlp
1646 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1647 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1648 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1649 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1651 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1652 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1653 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1655 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1656 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1657 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1660 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1661 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1663 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1664 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1666 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1667 $ yt-dlp -S "+res"
1669 # Download the smallest video available
1670 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1674 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1675 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1677 # Download the best video with the best extension
1678 # (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1679 $ yt-dlp -S "ext"
1683 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1684 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1685 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1687 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1688 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1689 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1691 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1692 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1693 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1694 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1695 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1699 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1700 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1701 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1703 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1704 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1705 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1707 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1708 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1712 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1713 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1714 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1716 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1717 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1718 $ yt-dlp -S "proto"
1722 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1723 # or the best video if there is no such video
1724 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1726 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1727 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1728 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1730 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1731 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1732 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1736 # More complex examples
1738 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1739 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1740 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1742 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1743 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1744 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1745 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1749 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1750 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1751 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1752 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1753 ```
1755 # MODIFYING METADATA
1757 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1759 `--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.
1761 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.
1763 Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. 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`.
1765 This option also has a few special uses:
1767 * 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
1769 * 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.
1771 **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.
1773 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1775 Metadata fields | From
1776 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1777 `title` | `track` or `title`
1778 `date` | `upload_date`
1779 `description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1780 `purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1781 `track` | `track_number`
1782 `artist` | `artist`, `artists`, `creator`, `creators`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1783 `composer` | `composer` or `composers`
1784 `genre` | `genre` or `genres`
1785 `album` | `album`
1786 `album_artist` | `album_artist` or `album_artists`
1787 `disc` | `disc_number`
1788 `show` | `series`
1789 `season_number` | `season_number`
1790 `episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1791 `episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1792 `language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1794 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1797 ## Modifying metadata examples
1799 ```bash
1800 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1801 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1803 # Regex example
1804 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1806 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1807 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1809 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1810 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
1812 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1813 # handling multiple lines correctly
1814 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
1816 # Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1817 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1819 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1820 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "video::(?P<formats>)" --write-info-json
1822 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1823 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1825 ```
1827 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1829 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=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1831 Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1833 The following extractors use this feature:
1835 #### youtube
1836 * `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
1837 * `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
1838 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `web_embedded`); and `mweb`, `mweb_embedscreen` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `ios,android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
1839 * `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
1840 * `player_params`: YouTube player parameters to use for player requests. Will overwrite any default ones set by yt-dlp.
1841 * `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1842 * `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`
1843 * 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
1844 * `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)
1845 * `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
1846 * `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
1847 * `raise_incomplete_data`: `Incomplete Data Received` raises an error instead of reporting a warning
1849 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1850 * `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)
1851 * `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1853 #### generic
1854 * `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`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1855 * `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`
1856 * `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
1857 * `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`
1859 #### funimation
1860 * `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1861 * `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1863 #### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
1864 * `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `download_dash`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2`
1865 * `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1867 #### vikichannel
1868 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
1870 #### niconico
1871 * `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.**
1873 #### youtubewebarchive
1874 * `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1876 #### gamejolt
1877 * `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1879 #### hotstar
1880 * `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1881 * `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1882 * `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1884 #### niconicochannelplus
1885 * `max_comments`: Maximum number of comments to extract - default is `120`
1887 #### tiktok
1888 * `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com`
1889 * `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1890 * `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
1892 #### rokfinchannel
1893 * `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
1895 #### twitter
1896 * `api`: Select one of `graphql` (default), `legacy` or `syndication` as the API for tweet extraction. Has no effect if logged in
1898 #### stacommu, wrestleuniverse
1899 * `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
1901 #### twitch
1902 * `client_id`: Client ID value to be sent with GraphQL requests, e.g. `twitch:client_id=kimne78kx3ncx6brgo4mv6wki5h1ko`
1904 #### nhkradirulive (NHK らじる★らじる LIVE)
1905 * `area`: Which regional variation to extract. Valid areas are: `sapporo`, `sendai`, `tokyo`, `nagoya`, `osaka`, `hiroshima`, `matsuyama`, `fukuoka`. Defaults to `tokyo`
1907 #### nflplusreplay
1908 * `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
1910 #### jiosaavn
1911 * `bitrate`: Audio bitrates to request. One or more of `16`, `32`, `64`, `128`, `320`. Default is `128,320`
1913 **Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1915 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1918 # PLUGINS
1920 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!**
1922 Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1923 - Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1924 - Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1925 - Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1928 Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
1930 In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1932 yt_dlp_plugins/
1933 extractor/
1934 myplugin.py
1935 postprocessor/
1936 myplugin.py
1938 yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
1940 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1942 ## Installing Plugins
1944 Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1946 1. **Configuration directories**:
1947 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1948 * **User Plugins**
1949 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1950 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1951 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
1952 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1953 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1954 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1955 * **System Plugins**
1956 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1957 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1958 2. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
1959 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1960 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1962 3. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
1963 * 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.
1964 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
1965 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1966 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1969 `.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
1970 * e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
1972 Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
1974 ## Developing Plugins
1976 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.
1978 All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors repectively. 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`).
1980 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.
1982 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.
1984 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.
1986 # EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1988 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1990 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.
1992 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1994 ```python
1995 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1997 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1998 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1999 ydl.download(URLS)
2000 ```
2002 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.
2004 **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)
2006 ## Embedding examples
2008 #### Extracting information
2010 ```python
2011 import json
2012 import yt_dlp
2014 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
2016 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
2017 ydl_opts = {}
2018 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2019 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
2021 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
2022 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
2023 ```
2024 #### Download using an info-json
2026 ```python
2027 import yt_dlp
2029 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
2031 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
2032 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
2034 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
2035 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
2036 ```
2038 #### Extract audio
2040 ```python
2041 import yt_dlp
2043 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2045 ydl_opts = {
2046 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
2047 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
2048 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
2049 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
2050 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
2051 }]
2052 }
2054 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2055 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2056 ```
2058 #### Filter videos
2060 ```python
2061 import yt_dlp
2063 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2065 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
2066 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
2067 duration = info.get('duration')
2068 if duration and duration < 60:
2069 return 'The video is too short'
2071 ydl_opts = {
2072 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2073 }
2075 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2076 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2077 ```
2079 #### Adding logger and progress hook
2081 ```python
2082 import yt_dlp
2084 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2086 class MyLogger:
2087 def debug(self, msg):
2088 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
2089 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2090 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2091 pass
2092 else:
2093 self.info(msg)
2095 def info(self, msg):
2096 pass
2098 def warning(self, msg):
2099 pass
2101 def error(self, msg):
2102 print(msg)
2105 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2106 def my_hook(d):
2107 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2108 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2111 ydl_opts = {
2112 'logger': MyLogger(),
2113 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2114 }
2116 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2117 ydl.download(URLS)
2118 ```
2120 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
2122 ```python
2123 import yt_dlp
2125 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2127 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
2128 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
2129 def run(self, info):
2130 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2131 return [], info
2134 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
2135 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2136 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
2137 ydl.download(URLS)
2138 ```
2141 #### Use a custom format selector
2143 ```python
2144 import yt_dlp
2146 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2148 def format_selector(ctx):
2149 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
2150 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
2152 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2153 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2155 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2156 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2157 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2159 # find compatible audio extension
2160 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2161 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2162 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2163 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2165 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
2166 yield {
2167 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2168 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2169 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
2170 # Must be + separated list of protocols
2171 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2172 }
2175 ydl_opts = {
2176 'format': format_selector,
2177 }
2179 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2180 ydl.download(URLS)
2181 ```
2183 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2185 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2187 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2189 #### Almost redundant options
2190 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2192 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2193 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
2194 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
2195 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2197 #### Redundant options
2198 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
2200 --get-description --print description
2201 --get-duration --print duration_string
2202 --get-filename --print filename
2203 --get-format --print format
2204 --get-id --print id
2205 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2206 -e, --get-title --print title
2207 -g, --get-url --print urls
2208 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2209 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2210 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2211 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
2212 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
2213 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2214 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2215 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2216 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2217 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2218 --no-playlist-reverse Default
2219 --no-colors --color no_color
2222 #### Not recommended
2223 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2225 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
2226 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2227 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2228 --all-formats -f all
2229 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2230 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2231 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
2232 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2233 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2234 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2235 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2236 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2237 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2238 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2239 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2240 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2241 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2242 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2243 --geo-bypass --xff "default"
2244 --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
2245 --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
2246 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
2249 #### Developer options
2250 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2252 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2253 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2254 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2255 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2256 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2259 #### Old aliases
2260 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2262 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2263 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2264 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2265 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2266 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2267 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2268 --load-info --load-info-json
2269 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2270 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2271 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2272 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2273 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2274 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2275 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2276 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2277 --write-srt --write-subs
2278 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2280 #### Sponskrub Options
2281 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
2283 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2284 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2285 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2286 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2287 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2288 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2289 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2290 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2292 #### No longer supported
2293 These options may no longer work as intended
2295 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2296 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2297 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2298 --no-call-home Default
2299 --include-ads No longer supported
2300 --no-include-ads Default
2301 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2302 --no-write-annotations Default
2303 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
2305 #### Removed
2306 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2308 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2309 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2311 # CONTRIBUTING
2312 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)
2314 # WIKI
2315 See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information