- [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection)
- [FAQ](#faq)
- [DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS](#developer-instructions)
+- [EMBEDDING YOUTUBE-DL](#embedding-youtube-dl)
- [BUGS](#bugs)
- [COPYRIGHT](#copyright)
sudo pip install youtube-dl
-Alternatively, refer to the developer instructions below for how to check out and work with the git repository. For further options, including PGP signatures, see https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html .
+Alternatively, refer to the [developer instructions](#developer-instructions) for how to check out and work with the git repository. For further options, including PGP signatures, see https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html .
# DESCRIPTION
**youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
# 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 Continue on download errors, for example to skip unavailable videos in a playlist
- --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the playlist or the command line) if an error occurs
+ -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
+ sure that you have sufficient permissions
+ (run with sudo if needed)
+ -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
+ skip unavailable videos in a playlist
+ --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
+ playlist or the command line) if an error
+ occurs
--dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
- --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they would handle
- --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported extractors
- --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos from google videos for youtube-dl "large apple".
- Use the value "auto" to let youtube-dl 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 Do not read configuration files. When given in the global configuration file /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user configuration
- in ~/.config/youtube-dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt on Windows)
- --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist, only list them.
+ --list-extractors List all supported extractors
+ --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
+ extractors
+ --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 youtube-dl "large
+ apple". Use the value "auto" to let
+ youtube-dl 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 Do not read configuration files. When given
+ in the global configuration file /etc
+ /youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
+ configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
+ dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
+ on Windows)
+ --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
+ only list them.
--no-color Do not emit color codes in output
## Network Options:
- --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct connection
+ --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. 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 (experimental)
- -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4 (experimental)
- -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6 (experimental)
- --cn-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for some Chinese sites. The default proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the options is
- not present) is used for the actual downloading. (experimental)
+ --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
+ (experimental)
+ -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
+ (experimental)
+ -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
+ (experimental)
+ --cn-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
+ some Chinese sites. The default proxy
+ specified by --proxy (or none, if the
+ options is not present) is used for the
+ actual downloading. (experimental)
## 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 seperated 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.
- --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or caseless sub-string)
- --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or caseless sub-string)
+ --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.
+ --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
+ caseless sub-string)
+ --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
+ caseless sub-string)
--max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
- --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)
+ --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 in this date
- --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before this date (i.e. inclusive)
- --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after this date (i.e. inclusive)
- --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than COUNT views
- --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than COUNT views
- --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter (experimental). Specify any key (see help for -o for a list of available keys) to match if the key is present,
- !key to check if the key is not present,key > NUMBER (like "comment_count > 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare against
- a number, and & to require multiple matches. Values which are not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (?) after the
- operator.For example, to only match videos that have been liked more than 100 times and disliked less than 50 times (or the dislike
- functionality is not available at the given service), but who also have a description, use --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
+ --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
+ this date (i.e. inclusive)
+ --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
+ this date (i.e. inclusive)
+ --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
+ COUNT views
+ --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
+ COUNT views
+ --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter (experimental).
+ Specify any key (see help for -o for a list
+ of available keys) to match if the key is
+ present, !key to check if the key is not
+ present,key > NUMBER (like "comment_count >
+ 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
+ compare against a number, and & to require
+ multiple matches. Values which are not
+ known are excluded unless you put a
+ question mark (?) after the operator.For
+ example, to only match videos that have
+ been liked more than 100 times and disliked
+ less than 50 times (or the dislike
+ functionality is not available at the given
+ service), but who also have a description,
+ use --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
dislike_count <? 50 & description" .
- --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.
- --include-ads Download advertisements as well (experimental)
+ --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.
+ --include-ads Download advertisements as well
+ (experimental)
## Download Options:
- -r, --rate-limit LIMIT Maximum download rate in bytes per second (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
- -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or "infinite".
- --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.
+ -r, --rate-limit LIMIT Maximum download rate in bytes per second
+ (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
+ -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
+ "infinite".
+ --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.
--playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
- --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with expected filesize (experimental)
- --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of ffmpeg (experimental)
- --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader. Currently supports aria2c,curl,wget
- --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external downloader
+ --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
+ expected filesize (experimental)
+ --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
+ ffmpeg (experimental)
+ --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
+ Currently supports
+ aria2c,axel,curl,httpie,wget
+ --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
+ downloader
## Filesystem Options:
- -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
+ -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
+ stdin)
--id Use only video ID in file name
- -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template. Use %(title)s to get the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the uploader
- nickname if different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename extension, %(format)s for
- the format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of the format (like YouTube's itags: "137"),
- %(upload_date)s for the upload date (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id,
- %(playlist_title)s, %(playlist_id)s, or %(playlist)s (=title if present, ID otherwise) for the playlist the video is in,
- %(playlist_index)s for the position in the playlist. %(height)s and %(width)s for the width and height of the video format.
- %(resolution)s for a textual description of the resolution of the video format. %% for a literal 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' .
- --autonumber-size NUMBER Specify the number of digits in %(autonumber)s when it is present in output filename template or --auto-number option is given
- --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
- -A, --auto-number [deprecated; use -o "%(autonumber)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" ] Number downloaded files starting from 00000
- -t, --title [deprecated] Use title in file name (default)
+ -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template. Use %(title)s to
+ get the title, %(uploader)s for the
+ uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
+ uploader nickname if different,
+ %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
+ incremented number, %(ext)s for the
+ filename extension, %(format)s for the
+ format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
+ "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
+ the format (like YouTube's itags: "137"),
+ %(upload_date)s for the upload date
+ (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
+ (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
+ video id, %(playlist_title)s,
+ %(playlist_id)s, or %(playlist)s (=title if
+ present, ID otherwise) for the playlist the
+ video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
+ position in the playlist. %(height)s and
+ %(width)s for the width and height of the
+ video format. %(resolution)s for a textual
+ description of the resolution of the video
+ format. %% for a literal 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' .
+ --autonumber-size NUMBER Specify the number of digits in
+ %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
+ filename template or --auto-number option
+ is given
+ --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
+ characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
+ filenames
+ -A, --auto-number [deprecated; use -o
+ "%(autonumber)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" ] Number
+ downloaded files starting from 00000
+ -t, --title [deprecated] Use title in file name
+ (default)
-l, --literal [deprecated] Alias of --title
-w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
- -c, --continue Force resume of partially downloaded files. By default, youtube-dl will resume downloads if possible.
- --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded files (restart from beginning)
- --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into output file
- --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set the file modification time
- --write-description Write video description to a .description file
+ -c, --continue Force resume of partially downloaded files.
+ By default, youtube-dl will resume
+ downloads if possible.
+ --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded files
+ (restart from beginning)
+ --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
+ into output file
+ --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
+ the file modification time
+ --write-description Write video description to a .description
+ file
--write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
- --write-annotations Write video annotations to a .annotations.xml file
- --load-info FILE JSON file containing the video information (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
- --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
- --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl can store some downloaded information permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl
- or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only YouTube player files (for videos with obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that may
- change.
+ --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
+ .annotations.xml file
+ --load-info FILE JSON file containing the video information
+ (created with the "--write-info-json"
+ option)
+ --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
+ jar in
+ --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
+ can store some downloaded information
+ permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME
+ /youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the
+ moment, only YouTube player files (for
+ videos with obfuscated signatures) are
+ cached, but that may change.
--no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
--rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
## Thumbnail images:
--write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
--write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
- --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail formats
+ --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
+ formats
## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
-q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
--no-warnings Ignore warnings
- -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write anything to disk
+ -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
+ anything to disk
--skip-download Do not download the video
-g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
-e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
--get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
--get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
--get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
- -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information. See --output for a description of available keys.
- -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information for each command-line argument. If the URL refers to a playlist, dump the whole playlist
- information in a single line.
- --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as JSON (video is still being downloaded).
+ -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
+ See --output for a description of available
+ keys.
+ -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
+ for each command-line argument. If the URL
+ refers to a playlist, dump the whole
+ playlist information in a single line.
+ --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
+ JSON (video is still being downloaded).
--newline Output progress bar as new lines
--no-progress Do not print progress bar
--console-title Display progress in console titlebar
-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
+ --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
-C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dl server for debugging
- --no-call-home Do NOT contact the youtube-dl server for debugging
+ --no-call-home Do NOT contact the youtube-dl server for
+ debugging
## Workarounds:
--encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
--no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
- --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve information about the video. (Currently supported only for YouTube)
+ --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-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each download.
+ --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-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
+ download.
## Video Format Options:
- -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see the "FORMAT SELECTION" for all the info
+ -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see the "FORMAT
+ SELECTION" for all the info
--all-formats Download all available video formats
- --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific one is requested
+ --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific
+ one is requested
-F, --list-formats List all available formats
- --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifest on YouTube videos
- --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
+ --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
+ related data on YouTube videos
+ --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-sub Write subtitle file
- --write-auto-sub Write automatic subtitle file (YouTube only)
- --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the video
+ --write-auto-sub Write automatic subtitle file (YouTube
+ only)
+ --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
+ video
--list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
- --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats preference, for example: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
- --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (optional) separated by commas, use IETF language tags like 'en,pt'
+ --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
+ preference, for example: "srt" or
+ "ass/srt/best"
+ --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
+ (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
+ language tags like 'en,pt'
## Authentication Options:
-u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
- -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left out, youtube-dl will ask interactively.
+ -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
+ out, youtube-dl will ask interactively.
-2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor auth code
-n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
- --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, smotri)
+ --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, smotri, youku)
## Post-processing Options:
- -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
- --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or "wav"; "best" by default
- --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K (default
- 5)
- --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if necessary (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv)
- -k, --keep-video Keep the video file on disk after the post-processing; the video is erased by default
- --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-processed files are overwritten by default
- --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mkv and mp4 videos)
+ -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
+ (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
+ avprobe)
+ --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
+ "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or "wav";
+ "best" by default
+ --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
+ a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse)
+ for VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
+ (default 5)
+ --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
+ necessary (currently supported:
+ mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
+ --postprocessor-args ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessor
+ -k, --keep-video Keep the video file on disk after the post-
+ processing; the video is erased by default
+ --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files; the
+ post-processed files are overwritten by
+ default
+ --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mkv
+ and mp4 videos)
--embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
--add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
- --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title / artist from the video title. The format syntax is the same as --output, the parsed
- parameters replace existing values. Additional templates: %(album)s, %(artist)s. Example: --metadata-from-title "%(artist)s -
- %(title)s" matches a title like "Coldplay - Paradise"
- --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)
- --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the postprocessors (default)
- --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the postprocessors
- --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary; either the path to the binary or its containing directory.
- --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after downloading, similar to find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm
- {}'
- --convert-subtitles FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt)
+ --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
+ artist from the video title. The format
+ syntax is the same as --output, the parsed
+ parameters replace existing values.
+ Additional templates: %(album)s,
+ %(artist)s. Example: --metadata-from-title
+ "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a title
+ like "Coldplay - Paradise"
+ --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)
+ --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
+ postprocessors (default)
+ --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
+ postprocessors
+ --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
+ either the path to the binary or its
+ containing directory.
+ --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
+ downloading, similar to find's -exec
+ syntax. Example: --exec 'adb push {}
+ /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
+ --convert-subtitles FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
+ (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt)
# 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 `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and `C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dl.conf`.
+You can configure youtube-dl by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux, system wide configuration file is located at `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and user wide configuration file at `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the user wide configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` or `C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dl.conf`. For example, with the following configration file youtube-dl will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime and use proxy:
+```
+--extract-audio
+--no-mtime
+--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
+```
+
+You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable configuration file for a particular youtube-dl run.
+
+### 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 youtube-dl execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in shell command history. You can achieve this using [`.netrc` file](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on per extractor basis. For that you will need to create `.netrc` file in your `$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by you only:
+```
+touch $HOME/.netrc
+chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
+```
+After that you can add credentials for extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of extractor in lowercase:
+```
+machine <extractor> login <login> 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 `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to youtube-dl or place it in [configuration file](#configuration).
+
+On Windows you may also need to setup `%HOME%` environment variable manually.
# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
- `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.
- - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
- - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
+ - `playlist`: The sequence will be replaced by the name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
+ - `playlist_index`: The sequence will be replaced by the index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist.
+ - `format_id`: The sequence will be replaced by the format code specified by `--format`.
+ - `duration`: The sequence will be replaced by the length of the video in seconds.
The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
By default youtube-dl tries to download the best quality, but sometimes you may want to download other format.
The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example `-f 22`. You can get the list of available formats using `--list-formats`, you can also use a file extension (currently it supports aac, m4a, mp3, mp4, ogg, wav, webm) or the special names `best`, `bestvideo`, `bestaudio` and `worst`.
-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, as in `-f 22/17/18`. You can also filter the video results by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`). This works for filesize, height, width, tbr, abr, vbr, asr, and fps and the comparisons <, <=, >, >=, =, != and for ext, acodec, vcodec, container, and protocol and the comparisons =, != . 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. Use commas to download multiple formats, such as `-f 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio`. You can merge the video and audio of two formats into a single file using `-f <video-format>+<audio-format>` (requires ffmpeg or avconv), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio`.
+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, as in `-f 22/17/18`. You can also filter the video results by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`). This works for filesize, height, width, tbr, abr, vbr, asr, and fps and the comparisons <, <=, >, >=, =, != and for ext, acodec, vcodec, container, and protocol and the comparisons =, != . 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. Use commas to download multiple formats, such as `-f 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio`. You can merge the video and audio of two formats into a single file using `-f <video-format>+<audio-format>` (requires ffmpeg or avconv), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio`. 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]'`.
Since the end of April 2015 and version 2015.04.26 youtube-dl uses `-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best` as default format selection (see #5447, #5456). If ffmpeg or avconv are installed this results in downloading `bestvideo` and `bestaudio` separately and muxing them together into a single file giving the best overall quality available. Otherwise it falls back to `best` and results in downloading best available quality served as a single file. `best` is also needed for videos that don't come from YouTube because they don't provide the audio and video in two different files. If you want to only download some dash formats (for example if you are not interested in getting videos with a resolution higher than 1080p), you can add `-f bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best` to your configuration file. Note that if you use youtube-dl to stream to `stdout` (and most likely to pipe it to your media player then), i.e. you explicitly specify output template as `-o -`, youtube-dl still uses `-f best` format selection in order to start content delivery immediately to your player and not to wait until `bestvideo` and `bestaudio` are downloaded and muxed.
By default, youtube-dl intends to have the best options (incidentally, if you have a convincing case that these should be different, [please file an issue where you explain that](https://yt-dl.org/bug)). Therefore, it is unnecessary and sometimes harmful to copy long option strings from webpages. In particular, the only option out of `-citw` that is regularly useful is `-i`.
-### Can you please put the -b option back?
+### Can you please put the `-b` option back?
Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the `-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the `-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
-### I extracted a video URL with -g, but it does not play on another machine / in my webbrowser.
+### I extracted a video URL with `-g`, but it does not play on another machine / in my webbrowser.
It depends a lot on the service. In many cases, requests for the video (to download/play it) must come from the same IP address and with the same cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use `--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
It may be beneficial to use IPv6; in some cases, the restrictions are only applied to IPv4. Some services (sometimes only for a subset of videos) do not restrict the video URL by IP address, cookie, or user-agent, but these are the exception rather than the rule.
-Please bear in mind that some URL protocols are **not** supported by browsers out of the box, including RTMP. If you are using -g, your own downloader must support these as well.
+Please bear in mind that some URL protocols are **not** supported by browsers out of the box, including RTMP. If you are using `-g`, your own downloader must support these as well.
If you want to play the video on a machine that is not running youtube-dl, you can relay the video content from the machine that runs youtube-dl. You can use `-o -` to let youtube-dl stream a video to stdout, or simply allow the player to download the files written by youtube-dl in turn.
### HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests or 402: Payment Required
-These two error codes indicate that the service is blocking your IP address because of overuse. Contact the service and ask them to unblock your IP address, or - if you have acquired a whitelisted IP address already - use the [`--proxy` or `--network-address` options](#network-options) to select another IP address.
+These two error codes indicate that the service is blocking your IP address because of overuse. Contact the service and ask them to unblock your IP address, or - if you have acquired a whitelisted IP address already - use the [`--proxy` or `--source-address` options](#network-options) to select another IP address.
### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
youtube-dl -- -wNyEUrxzFU
youtube-dl "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wNyEUrxzFU"
+### How do I pass cookies to youtube-dl?
+
+Use the `--cookies` option, for example `--cookies /path/to/cookies/file.txt`. Note that cookies file must be in Mozilla/Netscape format and the first line of cookies file must be either `# HTTP Cookie File` or `# Netscape HTTP Cookie File`. Make sure you have correct [newline format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newline) in cookies file and convert newlines if necessary to correspond your OS, namely `CRLF` (`\r\n`) for Windows, `LF` (`\n`) for Linux and `CR` (`\r`) for Mac OS. `HTTP Error 400: Bad Request` when using `--cookies` is a good sign of invalid newline format.
+
+Passing cookies to youtube-dl is a good way to workaround login when particular extractor does not implement it explicitly.
+
### Can you add support for this anime video site, or site which shows current movies for free?
As a matter of policy (as well as legality), youtube-dl does not include support for services that specialize in infringing copyright. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot easily find a video that the service is quite obviously allowed to distribute (i.e. that has been uploaded by the creator, the creator's distributor, or is published under a free license), the service is probably unfit for inclusion to youtube-dl.
```
5. Add an import in [`youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py).
6. Run `python test/test_download.py TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`. This *should fail* at first, but you can continually re-run it until you're done. If you decide to add more than one test, then rename ``_TEST`` to ``_TESTS`` and make it into a list of dictionaries. The tests will be then be named `TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`, `TestDownload.test_YourExtractor_1`, `TestDownload.test_YourExtractor_2`, etc.
-7. Have a look at [`youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a [detailed description of what your extractor should return](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L38). Add tests and code for as many as you want.
+7. Have a look at [`youtube_dl/extractor/common.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a [detailed description of what your extractor should and may return](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L62-L200). Add tests and code for as many as you want.
8. If you can, check the code with [flake8](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flake8).
9. When the tests pass, [add](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-add) the new files and [commit](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit) them and [push](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-push) the result, like this:
ydl.download(['http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
```
-Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of what can be done, have a look at [youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py#L69). For a start, if you want to intercept youtube-dl's output, set a `logger` object.
+Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of what can be done, have a look at [youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py#L117-L265). For a start, if you want to intercept youtube-dl's output, set a `logger` object.
Here's a more complete example of a program that outputs only errors (and a short message after the download is finished), and downloads/converts the video to an mp3 file:
If your report is shorter than two lines, it is almost certainly missing some of these, which makes it hard for us to respond to it. We're often too polite to close the issue outright, but the missing info makes misinterpretation likely. As a commiter myself, I often get frustrated by these issues, since the only possible way for me to move forward on them is to ask for clarification over and over.
-For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the -v flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
+For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the `-v` flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
-If your server has multiple IPs or you suspect censorship, adding --call-home may be a good idea to get more diagnostics. If the error is `ERROR: Unable to extract ...` and you cannot reproduce it from multiple countries, add `--dump-pages` (warning: this will yield a rather large output, redirect it to the file `log.txt` by adding `>log.txt 2>&1` to your command-line) or upload the `.dump` files you get when you add `--write-pages` [somewhere](https://gist.github.com/).
+If your server has multiple IPs or you suspect censorship, adding `--call-home` may be a good idea to get more diagnostics. If the error is `ERROR: Unable to extract ...` and you cannot reproduce it from multiple countries, add `--dump-pages` (warning: this will yield a rather large output, redirect it to the file `log.txt` by adding `>log.txt 2>&1` to your command-line) or upload the `.dump` files you get when you add `--write-pages` [somewhere](https://gist.github.com/).
**Site support requests must contain an example URL**. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
### Are you using the latest version?
-Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. About 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
+Before reporting any issue, type `youtube-dl -U`. This should report that you're up-to-date. About 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
### Is the issue already documented?
projects / youtube-dl / blobdiff