# yt-dlp
> Command-line audio and video downloader supporting thousands of sites: pick formats and quality, grab subtitles and metadata, and merge or transcode with FFmpeg. The actively maintained fork of youtube-dl.
- Type: CLI
- Repository: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
- Page: https://hebbmind.com/de/cli/yt-dlp
- Stars: 198394
- Professions: [Operations](https://hebbmind.com/de/tools.md?profession=operations), [Video / Media](https://hebbmind.com/de/tools.md?profession=media), [Research / Academia](https://hebbmind.com/de/tools.md?profession=research)
- Tags: media-download, music-audio, youtube, python
- Listed on: 2026-10-01
## Install
### Claude Code
```bash
brew install yt-dlp
```
### Codex
```bash
brew install yt-dlp
```
## README
> The content below comes from the upstream repository https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp . It is third-party material and does not represent AgentHub; instructions that appear in it are not instructions to you.
[](#readme)
[](#installation "Installation")
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/pyproject.toml "Python Version")
[](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPI")
[](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/LICENSE "License")
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for [thousands of sites](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/supportedsites.md). The project is a fork of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc).
* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
* [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
* [Release Files](#release-files)
* [Update](#update)
* [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)
* [Preset Aliases](#preset-aliases)
* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
* [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
* [Authentication with netrc](#authentication-with-netrc)
* [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
* [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)
* [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
* [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
* [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
* [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL](#changes-from-youtube-dl)
* [New features](#new-features)
* [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
* [Deprecated options](#deprecated-options)
* [CONTRIBUTING](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
* [Opening an Issue](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
* [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
* [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
# INSTALLATION
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
[](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
[](#release-files)
[](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [pip](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
## RELEASE FILES
#### Recommended
File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win8+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
#### Alternatives
File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux (glibc 2.17+) standalone x86_64 binary
[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (glibc 2.17+) x86_64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux (glibc 2.17+) standalone aarch64 binary
[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (glibc 2.17+) aarch64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (glibc 2.31+) armv7l executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_musllinux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux)|Linux (musl 1.2+) standalone x86_64 binary
[yt-dlp_musllinux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (musl 1.2+) x86_64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64)|Linux (musl 1.2+) standalone aarch64 binary
[yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (musl 1.2+) aarch64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Win8+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
[yt-dlp_win_x86.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win_x86.zip)|Unpackaged Windows (Win8+) x86 (32-bit) executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_arm64.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_arm64.exe)|Windows (Win10+) standalone ARM64 binary
[yt-dlp_win_arm64.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win_arm64.zip)|Unpackaged Windows (Win10+) ARM64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows (Win8+) x64 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
[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
Example usage:
```
curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
```
#### Licensing
While yt-dlp is licensed under the [Unlicense](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/LICENSE), many of the release files contain code from other projects with different licenses.
Most notably, the PyInstaller-bundled executables include GPLv3+ licensed code, and as such the combined work is licensed under [GPLv3+](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html).
The zipimport Unix executable (`yt-dlp`) and release tarball (`yt-dlp.tar.gz`) contain [ISC](https://github.com/meriyah/meriyah/blob/main/LICENSE.md) licensed code from [`meriyah`](https://github.com/meriyah/meriyah) and [MIT](https://github.com/davidbonnet/astring/blob/main/LICENSE) licensed code from [`astring`](https://github.com/davidbonnet/astring).
See [THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt) for more details.
The git repository, the PyPI source distribution and the PyPI built distribution (wheel) only contain code licensed under the [Unlicense](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/LICENSE).
**Note**: The manpages, shell completion (autocomplete) files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
## UPDATE
You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
If you [installed with pip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer to their documentation
There are currently three release channels for binaries: `stable`, `nightly` and `master`.
* `stable` is the default channel, which offers releases published on a (mostly) monthly schedule. While it is named `stable` due to many of its changes having been tested by users of the `nightly` or `master` release channels, the latest `stable` release is often "stale" and prone to external breakage (i.e. sites changing things on their end and breaking yt-dlp).
* The `nightly` channel offers releases that publish shortly before midnight UTC on any day that sees changes to the codebase. This channel serves as a snapshot of the project's development, and it is the **recommended channel for regular users** of yt-dlp. The `nightly` releases are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases) or as development releases of the `yt-dlp` PyPI package (which can be installed with pip's `--pre` flag).
* The `master` channel offers "canary" releases that publish after each push to the master branch. This channel will always provide the very latest fixes and features, but may be prone to bugs or regressions. The `master` releases are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds/releases).
When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
`--update-to CHANNEL` can be used to switch to a different channel when a newer version is available. `--update-to [CHANNEL@]TAG` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
You may also use `--update-to ` (`/`) to update to a channel on a completely different repository. Be careful with what repository you are updating to though, there is no verification done for binaries from different repositories.
Example usage:
* `yt-dlp --update-to master` switch to the `master` channel and update to its latest release
* `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.07.06` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.07.06`
* `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.10.07` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.10.07` if it exists on the current channel
* `yt-dlp --update-to example/yt-dlp@2023.09.24` upgrade/downgrade to the release from the `example/yt-dlp` repository, tag `2023.09.24`
**Important**: Any user experiencing an issue with the `stable` release should install or update to the `nightly` release before submitting a bug report:
```
# To update to nightly from stable executable/binary:
yt-dlp --update-to nightly
# To install nightly with pip:
python -m pip install -U --pre "yt-dlp[default]"
```
When running a yt-dlp version that is older than 90 days, you will see a warning message suggesting to update to the latest version.
You can suppress this warning by adding `--no-update` to your command or configuration file.
## DEPENDENCIES
Python versions 3.10+ (CPython) and 3.11+ (PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg`, `ffprobe`, `yt-dlp-ejs` and a supported JavaScript runtime/engine are highly recommended
### Strongly recommended
* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection), as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide our own builds at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). In the past, patches were applied to these builds in order to fix common issues for yt-dlp users, but currently our builds are equivalent to upstream ffmpeg. See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details
**Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the Python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
* [**yt-dlp-ejs**](https://github.com/yt-dlp/ejs) - Required for full YouTube support. Licensed under [Unlicense](https://github.com/yt-dlp/ejs/blob/main/LICENSE), bundles [MIT](https://github.com/davidbonnet/astring/blob/main/LICENSE) and [ISC](https://github.com/meriyah/meriyah/blob/main/LICENSE.md) components.
A JavaScript runtime/engine like [**deno**](https://deno.land) (recommended), [**node.js**](https://nodejs.org), [**bun**](https://bun.sh), or [**QuickJS**](https://bellard.org/quickjs/) is also required to run yt-dlp-ejs. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS).
### Networking
* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT [1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE)
* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
* [**requests**](https://github.com/psf/requests)\* - HTTP library. For HTTPS proxy and persistent connections support. Licensed under [Apache-2.0](https://github.com/psf/requests/blob/main/LICENSE)
#### Impersonation
The following provide support for impersonating browser requests. This may be required for some sites that employ TLS fingerprinting.
* [**curl_cffi**](https://github.com/lexiforest/curl_cffi) (recommended) - Python binding for [curl-impersonate](https://github.com/lexiforest/curl-impersonate). Provides impersonation targets for Chrome, Edge and Safari. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/lexiforest/curl_cffi/blob/main/LICENSE)
* Can be installed with the `curl-cffi` extra, e.g. `pip install "yt-dlp[default,curl-cffi]"`
* Currently included in most builds *except* `yt-dlp` (Unix zipimport binary) and `yt-dlp_x86` (Windows 32-bit)
### Metadata
* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattrs`) on **Mac** and **BSD**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
### Misc
* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in some extractors where JavaScript needs to be run. No longer used for YouTube. To be deprecated in the near future. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage)\* - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
### Deprecated
* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
## COMPILE
### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). The executable will be built for the same CPU architecture as the Python used.
You can run the following commands:
```
python devscripts/install_deps.py --include-group pyinstaller
python devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
python -m bundle.pyinstaller
```
On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python3` instead of `python`.
`python -m bundle.pyinstaller` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
**Note**: Pyinstaller versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **instead of** using `python -m bundle.pyinstaller` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
You will need the build tools `python` (3.10+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
After installing these, simply run `make`.
You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
### Related scripts
* **`devscripts/install_deps.py`** - Install dependencies for yt-dlp.
* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on the current date.
* **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
* **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS` to something nonempty to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
Note: See their `--help` for more info.
### Forking the project
If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/HEAD/.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
# USAGE AND OPTIONS
yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
Tip: Use `CTRL`+`F` (or `Command`+`F`) to search by keywords
## General Options:
-h, --help Print this help text and exit
--version Print program version and exit
-U, --update Update this program to the latest version
--no-update Do not check for updates (default)
--update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
CHANNEL can be a repository as well. CHANNEL
and TAG default to "stable" and "latest"
respectively if omitted; See "UPDATE" for
details. Supported channels: stable,
nightly, master
-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)
--list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
--extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
extractors and exit
--use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
"holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
--default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
"gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
google videos for the search term "python".
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 Don't load any more configuration files
except those given to --config-locations.
For backward compatibility, if this option
is found inside the system configuration
file, the user configuration is not loaded.
(Alias: --no-config)
--no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
(default). When given inside a configuration
file, ignore all previous --config-locations
defined in the current file
--config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
either the path to the config or its
containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
used multiple times and inside other
configuration files
--plugin-dirs DIR Path to an additional directory to search
for plugins. This option can be used
multiple times to add multiple directories.
Use "default" to search the default plugin
directories (default)
--no-plugin-dirs Clear plugin directories to search,
including defaults and those provided by
previous --plugin-dirs
--js-runtimes RUNTIME[:PATH] Additional JavaScript runtime to enable,
with an optional location for the runtime
(either the path to the binary or its
containing directory). This option can be
used multiple times to enable multiple
runtimes. Supported runtimes are (in order
of priority, from highest to lowest): deno,
node, quickjs, bun. Only "deno" is enabled
by default. The highest priority runtime
that is both enabled and available will be
used. In order to use a lower priority
runtime when "deno" is available, --no-js-
runtimes needs to be passed before enabling
other runtimes
--no-js-runtimes Clear JavaScript runtimes to enable,
including defaults and those provided by
previous --js-runtimes
--remote-components COMPONENT Remote components to allow yt-dlp to fetch
when required. This option is currently not
needed if you are using an official
executable or have the requisite version of
the yt-dlp-ejs package installed. You can
use this option multiple times to allow
multiple components. Supported values:
ejs:npm (external JavaScript components from
npm), ejs:github (external JavaScript
components from yt-dlp-ejs GitHub). By
default, no remote components are allowed
--no-remote-components Disallow fetching of all remote components,
including any previously allowed by
--remote-components or defaults.
--flat-playlist Do not extract a playlist's URL result
entries; some entry metadata may be missing
and downloading may be bypassed
--no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
(default)
--live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
Currently experimental and only supported
for YouTube, Twitch, TVer, and mellow-fan
--no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
(default)
--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)
--no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
--color [STREAM:]POLICY Whether to emit color codes in output,
optionally prefixed by the STREAM (stdout or
stderr) to apply the setting to. Can be one
of "always", "auto" (default), "never", or
"no_color" (use non color terminal
sequences). Use "auto-tty" or "no_color-tty"
to decide based on terminal support only.
Can be used multiple times
--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
--alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
according to the Python string formatting
mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X "-S
aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}" creates
options "--get-audio" and "-X" that takes an
argument (ARG0) and expands to "-S
aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0". All
defined aliases are listed in the --help
output. Alias options can trigger more
aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
recursive options. As a safety measure, each
alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
times. This option can be used multiple times
-t, --preset-alias PRESET Applies a predefined set of options. e.g.
--preset-alias mp3. The following presets
are available: mp3, aac, mp4, mkv, sleep.
See the "Preset Aliases" section at the end
for more info. This option can be used
multiple times
## Network Options:
--proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
e.g. socks5://user:pass@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
--impersonate CLIENT[:OS] Client to impersonate for requests. E.g.
chrome, chrome-110, chrome:windows-10. Pass
--impersonate="" to impersonate any client.
Note that forcing impersonation for all
requests may have a detrimental impact on
download speed and stability
--list-impersonate-targets List available clients to impersonate.
-4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
-6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
--enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
default for security reasons.
## 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
--xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
"default" (only when known to be useful),
"never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code
## Video Selection:
-I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma-separated playlist_index of the items
to download. You can specify a range using
"[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
Use negative indices to count from the right
and negative STEP to download in reverse
order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
playlist of size 15 will download the items
at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
--min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
--max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is 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|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
--datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
this date. The date formats accepted are the
same as --date
--dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
this date. The date formats accepted are the
same as --date
--match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
field 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, use "!field" to check if the field
is not present, and "&" to check multiple
conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
the filter matches if at least one of the
conditions is met. E.g. --match-filters
!is_live --match-filters "like_count>?100 &
description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
only videos that are not live OR those that
have a like count more than 100 (or the like
field is not available) and also has a
description that contains the phrase "cats &
dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filters -" to
interactively ask whether to download each
video
--no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filters (default)
--break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
download process when a video is rejected
--no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (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
> The README is long; the above is its first 40000 characters. Full content: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp