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
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* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
* [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
@ -61,6 +66,7 @@ yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on t
* [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
@ -241,6 +249,7 @@ On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https:
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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)
@ -281,11 +290,13 @@ You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.gi
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
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yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
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## General Options:
-h, --help Print this help text and exit
--version Print program version and exit
@ -1000,7 +1011,7 @@ You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a confi
* `~/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%`
`%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:
@ -1048,7 +1059,9 @@ The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it
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.
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**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
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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).
@ -1056,11 +1069,17 @@ It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloa
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:
@ -1207,9 +1226,11 @@ 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.
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#### 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"`.
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#### Output template examples
@ -1253,7 +1274,9 @@ This is generally equivalent to using `-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, i
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.
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**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
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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.
@ -1589,6 +1612,8 @@ The following extractors use this feature:
NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
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# PLUGINS
@ -1720,6 +1745,8 @@ with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
**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
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# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
chris
3 years ago
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