-% youtube-dl(1)
+% YOUTUBE-DL(1)
# NAME
youtube-dl
-i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors
-r, --rate-limit LIMIT download rate limit (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
-R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
+ --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16k) (default
+ is 1024)
+ --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
+ default, the buffer size is automatically resized
+ from an initial value of SIZE.
--dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
--user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
--list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they
## Filesystem Options:
-t, --title use title in file name
- -l, --literal use literal title in file name
+ --id use video ID in file name
+ -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
-A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
- -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(stitle)s to get the
+ -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to get the
title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
%(autonumber)s to get an automatically incremented
number, %(ext)s for the filename extension,
%(upload_date)s for the upload date (YYYYMMDD),
%(extractor)s for the provider (youtube, metacafe,
etc), %(id)s for the video id and %% for a literal
- percent. Use - to output to stdout.
+ percent. Use - to output to stdout. Can also be
+ used to download to a different directory, for
+ example with -o '/my/downloads/%(uploader)s/%(title
+ )s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
+ --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
+ avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
-a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
-w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
-c, --continue resume partially downloaded files
-n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
## Post-processing Options:
- --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
+ -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", or "wav";
best by default
-k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the post-
processing; the video is erased by default
+# CONFIGURATION
+
+You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.local/config/youtube-dl.conf`.
+
+# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
+
+The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format `%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
+
+ - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
+ - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
+ - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
+ - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
+ - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
+ - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
+ - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
+ - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
+
+The current default template is `%(id)s.%(ext)s`, but that will be switchted to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` (which can be requested with `-t` at the moment).
+
+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:
+
+ $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
+ youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
+ $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
+ youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
+
# FAQ
### Can you please put the -b option back?
means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
-To run youtube-dl under Python 2.5, you'll have to manually check it out like this:
-
- git clone git://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl.git
- cd youtube-dl
- python -m youtube_dl --help
-
-Please note that Python 2.5 is not supported anymore.
-
### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
-Since June 2012 (#342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to `youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repo to see the code. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the `__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run `make compile`.
+Since June 2012 (#342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to `youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the `__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run `make youtube-dl`.
### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
* The output of `youtube-dl --version`
* The output of `python --version`
* The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).
+
+For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
projects / youtube-dl / blobdiff