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<div align="center">
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</div>
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
* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
* [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
* [Update](#update)
* [Release Files](#release-files)
* [Dependencies](#dependencies)
* [Compile](#compile)
* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
* [General Options](#general-options)
* [Network Options](#network-options)
* [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
* [Video Selection](#video-selection)
* [Download Options](#download-options)
* [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
* [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
* [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
* [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
* [Workarounds](#workarounds)
* [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
* [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
* [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
* [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
* [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
* [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
* [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
* [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
* [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
* [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
* [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
* [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
* [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
* [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
* [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
* [MORE](#more)
# NEW FEATURES
* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.06.06 [commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)** and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/98e248f](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/98e248faa49e69d795abc60f7cdefcf91e2612aa)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
* **[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))
* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
* **Youtube improvements**:
* All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
* Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
* Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
* Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
* Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
* Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
* `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
* Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
* **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
* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of exisiting ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
* **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
* **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`)
* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
* **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`
* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio etc
* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
### Differences in default behavior
Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
* 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`
* 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
* 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 prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
* 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
* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
* 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
* `--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
* 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`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
* `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
* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. 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
* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
* 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
* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
* 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 seperate 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
For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
# INSTALLATION
You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
### Using the release binary
You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS: **[[Windows](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)] [[UNIX-like](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)]**
In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
```
sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
```
```
sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
```
```
sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
```
PS: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
```
python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
```
You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
```
python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
```
If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
```
python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip
```
Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
```
brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
```
## UPDATE
You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
## RELEASE FILES
#### Recommended
File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
#### Alternatives
File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
[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
[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/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
#### Misc
File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
## DEPENDENCIES
Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing `MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
-->
While all the other dependancies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
* [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
* [**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)
* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependancy, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specifc issues solved by these builds
## COMPILE
**For Windows**:
To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodomex, websockets). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
py pyinst.py
Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
**For Unix**:
You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
<!-- Auto generated -->
## General Options:
-h, --help Print this help text and exit
--version Print program version and exit
-U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
sure that you have sufficient permissions
(run with sudo if needed)
-i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
The download will be considered successful
even if the postprocessing fails
--no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
a playlist (default)
--abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
--dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
--list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
--extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
extractors and exit
--force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
extractor
--default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
from google videos for the search term
"large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
warning when guessing). "error" just throws
an error. The default value "fixup_error"
repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
this is not possible instead of searching
--ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
except the one provided by --config-location.
When given inside a configuration
file, no further configuration files are
loaded. Additionally, (for backward
compatibility) if this option is found
inside the system configuration file, the
user configuration is not loaded
--config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
either the path to the config or its
containing directory
--flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
only list them
--no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
--wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
available. Pass the minimum number of
seconds (or range) to wait between retries
--no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
--mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
Currently only supported for YouTube
--no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
--no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
--compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
configurations by reverting some of the
changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
default behavior" for details
## Network Options:
--proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
scheme. For example
socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
string (--proxy "") for direct connection
--socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
--source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
-4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
-6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
## Geo-restriction:
--geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
some geo-restricted sites. The default
proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
option is not present) is used for the
actual downloading
--geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
--no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
--geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
country code
--geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
notation
## Video Selection:
--playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
--playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
--playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
indices of the videos in the playlist
separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
specify range: "--playlist-items
1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
--min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
--max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
(e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
--date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
"(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
--datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
this date. The date formats accepted is the
same as --date
--dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
this date. The date formats accepted is the
same as --date
--match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
"OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
number or a string using the operators
defined in "Filtering formats". You can
also simply specify a field to match if the
field is present and "!field" to check if
the field is not present. In addition,
Python style regular expression matching
can be done using "~=", and multiple
filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
--match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
& description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
matches only videos that are not live, has
a like count more than 100 (or the like
field is not available), and also has a
description that contains the phrase "cats
& dogs" (ignoring case)
--no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
--no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
to a video and a playlist
--yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
a video and a playlist
--age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
age
--download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
archive file. Record the IDs of all
downloaded videos in it
--no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
--max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
--break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
a file that is in the archive
--break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
a file that has been filtered out
--break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
reject act only on the current input URL
--no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
terminates the entire download queue
--skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
of the playlist is skipped
## Download Options:
-N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
video that should be download concurrently
(default is 1)
-r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
(e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
--throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
below which throttling is assumed and the
video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
-R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
"infinite"
--fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
ISM)
--skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
hlsnative and ISM (default)
(Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
--abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
(Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
--keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
downloading is finished
--no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
downloading is finished (default)
--buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
(default is 1024)
--resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
from an initial value of --buffer-size
(default)
--no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
--http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
(experimental)
--playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
--no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
(default)
--playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
--xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
expected file size
--hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
allowing some players to play the video
while downloading, and reducing the chance
of file corruption if download is
interrupted. This is enabled by default for
live streams
--no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
videos. This is default when not
downloading live streams
--downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
(http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
use it for. Currently supports native,
aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
this option multiple times to set different
downloaders for different protocols. For
example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
"dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
http/ftp downloads, and the native
downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
(Alias: --external-downloader)
--downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
downloader. Specify the downloader name and
the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
different positions using the same syntax
as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
option multiple times to give different
arguments to different downloaders
(Alias: --external-downloader-args)
## Filesystem Options:
-a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
comments and ignored
--no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
-P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
downloaded. Specify the type of file and
the path separated by a colon ":". All the
same types as --output are supported.
Additionally, you can also provide "home"
(default) and "temp" paths. All
intermediary files are first downloaded to
the temp path and then the final files are
moved over to the home path after download
is finished. This option is ignored if
--output is an absolute path
-o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
TEMPLATE" for details
--output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
fields in output filename template
(default: "NA")
--restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
filenames
--no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
filenames (default)
--windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
--no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
using Windows (default)
--trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
extension) to the specified number of
characters
-w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
--force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
This option includes --no-continue
--no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
related files (default)
-c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
(default)
--no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
restart download of the entire file
--part Use .part files instead of writing directly
into output file (default)
--no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
into output file
--mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
file modification time (default)
--no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
the file modification time
--write-description Write video description to a .description
file
--no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
--write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
(this may contain personal information)
--no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
--write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
video metadata when using --write-info-json,
--write-description etc. (default)
--no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
--write-info-json, --write-description etc.
--clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
filenames from the infojson. Note that it
could still contain some personal
information (default)
--no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
--write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
infojson. The comments are fetched even
without this option if the extraction is
known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
--no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
extraction is known to be quick
(Alias: --no-get-comments)
--load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
(created with the "--write-info-json"
option)
--cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
from and dump cookie jar in
--no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
(default)
--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
Load cookies from a user profile of the
given web browser. Currently supported
browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium,
edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi. You
can specify the user profile name or
directory using "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
"BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
given, the most recently accessed one is
used
--no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
--cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
can store some downloaded information (such
as client ids and signatures) permanently.
By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
~/.cache/yt-dlp
--no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
--rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
## Thumbnail Options:
--write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
--no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
(default)
--write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
--list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
## Internet Shortcut Options:
--write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
.desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
--write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
OS caches the URL based on the file path
--write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
--write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
-q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
--verbose, print the log to stderr
--no-warnings Ignore warnings
-s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
anything to disk
--no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
options are used
--ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
extracting metadata even if the videos are
not actually available for download
(experimental)
--no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
formats are found (default)
--skip-download Do not download the video but write all
related files (Alias: --no-download)
-O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
used. Either a field name or same syntax as
the output template can be used
-j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
description of available keys
-J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
--no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
a playlist, the whole playlist information
is dumped in a single line
--force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
written as far as no errors occur, even if
-s or another simulation option is used
(Alias: --force-download-archive)
--newline Output progress bar as new lines
--no-progress Do not print progress bar
--progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
--console-title Display progress in console titlebar
--progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
Template for progress outputs, optionally
prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
"download-title:" (the console title),
"postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
The video's fields are accessible under the
"info" key and the progress attributes are
accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
--console-title --progress-template
"download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
-v, --verbose Print various debugging information
--dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
to debug problems (very verbose)
--write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
files in the current directory to debug
problems
--print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
## Workarounds:
--encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
--no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
--prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
information about the video (Currently
supported only for YouTube)
--user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
--referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
access is restricted to one domain
--add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
separated by a colon ":". You can use this
option multiple times
--bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
or fribidi executable in PATH
--sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
during data extraction
--sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
download. This is the minimum time to sleep
when used along with --max-sleep-interval
(Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
--max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
--sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
subtitle download
## Video Format Options:
-f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
for more details
-S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
"Sorting Formats" for more details
--S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
Formats" for more details
--no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
specified sort order (default), see
"Sorting Formats" for more details
--video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
into a single file
--no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
each output file (default)
--audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
into a single file
--no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
each output file (default)
--prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
over non-free ones of same quality. Use
with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
containers irrespective of quality
--no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
containers (default)
--check-formats Check that the selected formats are
actually downloadable
--check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
actually downloadable
--no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
downloadable
-F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
--merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
## Subtitle Options:
--write-subs Write subtitle file
--no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
--write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
(Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
--no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
(default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
--list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
--sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
preference, for example: "srt" or
"ass/srt/best"
--sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
(Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
the language code with a "-" to exempt it
from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
list of available language tags
## Authentication Options:
-u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
-p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
-2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
-n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
--netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
either the path or its containing
directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
--video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
--ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
a list of available MSOs
--ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
--ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
interactively
--ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
operators
## Post-Processing Options:
-x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
(requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
to when -x is used. Currently supported
formats are: best (default) or one of
best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
--audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
(default 5)
--remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
|webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
target container does not support the
video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
can specify multiple rules; Eg.
"aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
--recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
supported formats are the same as --remux-video
--postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
Specify the postprocessor/executable name
and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
to give the argument to the specified
postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
"PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
specified executable only when being used
by the specified postprocessor.
Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
can be appended to the prefix optionally
followed by a number to pass the argument
before the specified input/output file. Eg:
--ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
use this option multiple times to give
different arguments to different
postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
-k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
after post-processing
--no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
post-processing (default)
--post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
--no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
--embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
webm and mkv videos)
--no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
--embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
--no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
--embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
--no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
--no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
(Alias: --no-add-metadata)
--embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
(Alias: --add-chapters)
--no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
(Alias: --no-add-chapters)
--embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
mkv/mka video files
--no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
to the video file
--parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
for details
--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
Replace text in a metadata field using the
given regex. This option can be used
multiple times
--xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
(using dublin core and xdg standards)
--fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
default; fix file if we can, warn
otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
already exists
--ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
path to the binary or its containing
directory
--exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
downloading and post-processing. Same
syntax as the output template can be used
to pass any field as arguments to the
command. An additional field "filepath"
that contains the final path of the
downloaded file is also available. If no
fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
to the end of the command. This option can
be used multiple times
--no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
--exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
download. The syntax is the same as --exec
but "filepath" is not available. This
option can be used multiple times
--no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
--exec-before-download
--convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
(currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
(Alias: --convert-subtitles)
--convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
(currently supported: jpg|png)
--split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
to set the output filename for the split
files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
--no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
(default)
--remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
given regular expression. Time ranges
prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
of chapters to remove the specified range.
Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
--remove-chapters "intro". This option can
be used multiple times
--no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
(default)
--force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
removing/splitting them. Requires a
reencode and thus is very slow, but the
resulting video may have fewer artifacts
around the cuts
--no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
when cutting/splitting (default)
--use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
postprocessors to be enabled, and
(optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
seperated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
The "when" argument determines when the
postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
"pre_process" (after extraction),
"before_dl" (before video download),
"post_process" (after video download;
default) or "after_move" (after moving file
to their final locations). This option can
be used multiple times to add different
postprocessors
## SponsorBlock Options:
Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
[SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
--sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
for, separated by commas. Available
categories are all, sponsor, intro, outro,
selfpromo, interaction, preview,
music_offtopic. You can prefix the category
with a "-" to exempt it. See
https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/index.php/Segment_Categories
for description of the categories. Eg:
--sponsorblock-query all,-preview
--sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
the video file, separated by commas. If a
category is present in both mark and
remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
and available categories are the same as
for --sponsorblock-mark
--sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
The title template for SponsorBlock
chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
The same syntax as the output template is
used, but the only available fields are
start_time, end_time, category, categories,
name, category_names. Defaults to
"[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
--no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
--sponsorblock-remove
--sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
https://sponsor.ajay.app
## Extractor Options:
--extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
--allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
(Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
--ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
(Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
--hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
discontinuities such as ad breaks
--no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
formats at discontinuities such as ad
breaks (default)
--extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
"EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
use this option multiple times to give
arguments for different extractors
# CONFIGURATION
You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
1. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
1. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
1. **User Configuration**:
* `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
* `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
* `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
* `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
* `~/yt-dlp.conf`
* `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to (`C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming`) and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
```
# Lines starting with # are comments
# Always extract audio
-x
# Do not copy the mtime
--no-mtime
# Use this proxy
--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
```
Note that 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`.
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.
### Authentication with `.netrc` file
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:
```
touch $HOME/.netrc
chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
```
After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
```
machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
```
For example:
```
machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
```
To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
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.
**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
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).
It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified seperated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma seperated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-seperated) and a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), respectively
1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
```
%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
```
Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. For example, `-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates (except default) is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
The available fields are:
- `id` (string): Video identifier
- `title` (string): Video title
- `url` (string): Video URL
- `ext` (string): Video filename extension
- `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
- `description` (string): The description of the video
- `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
- `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
- `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
- `creator` (string): The creator of the video
- `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
- `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
- `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
- `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
- `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
- `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
- `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
- `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
- `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
- `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
- `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
- `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
- `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
- `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
- `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
- `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)
- `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
- `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
- `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
- `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
- `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
- `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
- `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
- `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
- `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
- `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
- `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
- `width` (numeric): Width of the video
- `height` (numeric): Height of the video
- `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
- `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
- `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
- `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
- `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
- `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
- `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
- `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
- `container` (string): Name of the container format
- `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
- `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
- `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
- `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
- `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
- `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
- `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
- `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
- `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
- `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
- `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
- `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
- `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
- `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
- `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
- `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
- `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
- `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
- `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
- `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
- `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
- `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
- `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
- `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
- `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
- `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
- `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
- `track` (string): Title of the track
- `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
- `track_id` (string): Id of the track
- `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
- `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
- `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
- `album_type` (string): Type of the album
- `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
- `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
- `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
- `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
- `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
- `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
- `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
Available only when used in `--print`:
- `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
- `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
- `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
- `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
- `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
- `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
- `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
- `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s'` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
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.
#### Output template and Windows batch files
If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
#### Output template examples
Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
```bash
$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o 'test video.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
$ 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/
# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
$ 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
# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
```
# FORMAT SELECTION
By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
This is generally equivalent to using `-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, if multiple audiostreams is enabled (`--audio-multistreams`), the default format changes to `-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best`. Similarly, if ffmpeg is unavailable, or if you use yt-dlp to stream to `stdout` (`-o -`), the default becomes `-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
**Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to `-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the `-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
The general syntax for format selection is `-f FORMAT` (or `--format FORMAT`) where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example 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.
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.
You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
- `all`: Select **all formats** separately
- `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
- `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
- `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
- `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
- `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
- `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
- `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
- `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
- `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
- `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
- `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
- `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
- `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
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 `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
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.
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, for example `-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.
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`.
You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
**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
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. For example, `-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 and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
## Filtering Formats
You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
- `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
- `width`: Width of the video, if known
- `height`: Height of the video, if known
- `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
- `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
- `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
- `fps`: Frame rate
Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
- `ext`: File extension
- `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
- `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
- `container`: Name of the container format
- `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`)
- `format_id`: A short description of the format
- `language`: Language code
Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
Note that 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.
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 "[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. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
## Sorting Formats
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...`.
The available fields are:
- `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
- `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
- `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
- `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
- `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
- `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
- `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
- `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
- `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
- `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
- `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
- `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
- `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
- `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
- `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
- `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
- `height`: Height of video
- `width`: Width of video
- `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
- `fps`: Framerate of video
- `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
- `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
- `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
- `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
- `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
**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.
All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not prefered. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not prefered. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
If your format selector is `worst`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all respects. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps`.
**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
## Format Selection examples
Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
```bash
# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
# Download best format that contains video,
# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
# Same as above
$ yt-dlp
# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
# For this case, an output template should be used since
# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
# and all audio-only formats into one file
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
# Download the worst video available (old method)
$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
# Download the smallest video available
$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
# Download the best video with the best extension
# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
# Download best video available via the best protocol
# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
# More complex examples
# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
$ yt-dlp -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
```
# MODIFYING METADATA
The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
`--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.
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 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.
Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
This option also has a few special uses:
* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
Metadata fields|From
:---|:---
`title`|`track` or `title`
`date`|`upload_date`
`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
`track`|`track_number`
`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
`genre`|`genre`
`album`|`album`
`album_artist`|`album_artist`
`disc`|`disc_number`
`show`|`series`
`season_number`|`season_number`
`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
## Modifying metadata examples
Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
```bash
# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
# Regex example
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ':(?P<formats>)' -j
# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
```
# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
The following extractors use this feature:
#### youtube
* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android`, `ios`, `mweb`. These also have `_music`, `_embedded`, `_agegate`, and `_creator` variants (Eg: `web_embedded`) (`mweb` has only `_agegate`). By default, `android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can also use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
* `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
* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
* `max_comments`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all)
* `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
#### funimation
* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
#### crunchyroll
* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
#### vikichannel
* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
# PLUGINS
Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code
If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J`, `--print`, `--progress-template`, `--exec` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
```python
from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
```
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#L162).
Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
```python
import json
import yt_dlp
class MyLogger:
def debug(self, msg):
# For compatability with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
# You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
pass
else:
self.info(msg)
def info(self, msg):
pass
def warning(self, msg):
pass
def error(self, msg):
print(msg)
# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
def run(self, info):
self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
return [], info
# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
def my_hook(d):
if d['status'] == 'finished':
print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
def format_selector(ctx):
""" Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
# formats are already sorted worst to best
formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
# acodec='none' means there is no audio
best_video = next(f for f in formats
if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
# find compatible audio extension
audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
# vcodec='none' means there is no video
best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
yield {
# These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
'ext': best_video['ext'],
'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
# Must be + seperated list of protocols
'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
}
# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
ydl_opts = {
'format': format_selector,
'postprocessors': [{
# Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
# ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
'add_chapters': True,
'add_metadata': True,
}],
'logger': MyLogger(),
'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
}
# Add custom headers
yt_dlp.utils.std_headers.update({'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'})
# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
# ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
```
**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the example above
# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
#### Redundant options
While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
--get-description --print description
--get-duration --print duration_string
--get-filename --print filename
--get-format --print format
--get-id --print id
--get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
-e, --get-title --print title
-g, --get-url --print urls
-j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
--match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
--reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
--min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
--max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
#### Not recommended
While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
--all-formats -f all
--all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
--print-json -j --no-simulate
--autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
--autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
--id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
--metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
--hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
--hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
--list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
--list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
--youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
--youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
--youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
--youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
#### Developer options
These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
--test Download only part of video for testing extractors
--youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
--allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
--no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
#### Old aliases
These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
--avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
--cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
--dump-headers --print-traffic
--dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
--force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
--load-info --load-info-json
--no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
--no-write-srt --no-write-subs
--prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
--rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
--split-tracks --split-chapters
--srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
--trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
--write-srt --write-subs
--yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
#### Sponskrub Options
Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
--sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
--no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
--sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
--no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
--sponskrub-force Not applicable
--no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
--sponskrub-location Not applicable
--sponskrub-args Not applicable
#### No longer supported
These options may no longer work as intended
--prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
--prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
-C, --call-home Not implemented
--no-call-home Default
--include-ads No longer supported
--no-include-ads Default
--write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
--no-write-annotations Default
#### Removed
These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
-A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
-t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
-l, --literal -o accepts literal names
# CONTRIBUTING
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
# MORE
For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
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