4 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
 
   7 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
 
  10 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
 
  11 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
 
  12 2.6, 2.7, or 3.3+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
 
  13 your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
 
  14 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
 
  17     -h, --help                 print this help text and exit
 
  18     --version                  print program version and exit
 
  19     -U, --update               update this program to latest version. Make sure
 
  20                                that you have sufficient permissions (run with
 
  22     -i, --ignore-errors        continue on download errors, for example to to
 
  23                                skip unavailable videos in a playlist
 
  24     --dump-user-agent          display the current browser identification
 
  25     --user-agent UA            specify a custom user agent
 
  26     --referer REF              specify a custom referer, use if the video access
 
  27                                is restricted to one domain
 
  28     --list-extractors          List all supported extractors and the URLs they
 
  30     --extractor-descriptions   Output descriptions of all supported extractors
 
  31     --proxy URL                Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy
 
  32     --no-check-certificate     Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
 
  33     --cache-dir None           Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl can
 
  34                                store downloaded information permanently. By
 
  35                                default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or ~/.cache
 
  37     --no-cache-dir             Disable filesystem caching
 
  40     --playlist-start NUMBER    playlist video to start at (default is 1)
 
  41     --playlist-end NUMBER      playlist video to end at (default is last)
 
  42     --match-title REGEX        download only matching titles (regex or caseless
 
  44     --reject-title REGEX       skip download for matching titles (regex or
 
  46     --max-downloads NUMBER     Abort after downloading NUMBER files
 
  47     --min-filesize SIZE        Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
 
  49     --max-filesize SIZE        Do not download any videos larger than SIZE (e.g.
 
  51     --date DATE                download only videos uploaded in this date
 
  52     --datebefore DATE          download only videos uploaded before this date
 
  53     --dateafter DATE           download only videos uploaded after this date
 
  54     --no-playlist              download only the currently playing video
 
  57     -r, --rate-limit LIMIT     maximum download rate (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
 
  58     -R, --retries RETRIES      number of retries (default is 10)
 
  59     --buffer-size SIZE         size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16k)
 
  61     --no-resize-buffer         do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
 
  62                                default, the buffer size is automatically resized
 
  63                                from an initial value of SIZE.
 
  65 ## Filesystem Options:
 
  66     -t, --title                use title in file name (default)
 
  67     --id                       use only video ID in file name
 
  68     -l, --literal              [deprecated] alias of --title
 
  69     -A, --auto-number          number downloaded files starting from 00000
 
  70     -o, --output TEMPLATE      output filename template. Use %(title)s to get
 
  71                                the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
 
  72                                %(uploader_id)s for the uploader nickname if
 
  73                                different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
 
  74                                incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename
 
  75                                extension, %(upload_date)s for the upload date
 
  76                                (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
 
  77                                (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
 
  78                                , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
 
  79                                %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
 
  80                                playlist and %% for a literal percent. Use - to
 
  81                                output to stdout. Can also be used to download to
 
  82                                a different directory, for example with -o '/my/d
 
  83                                ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
 
  84     --autonumber-size NUMBER   Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
 
  85                                when it is present in output filename template or
 
  86                                --autonumber option is given
 
  87     --restrict-filenames       Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
 
  88                                avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
 
  89     -a, --batch-file FILE      file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
 
  90     -w, --no-overwrites        do not overwrite files
 
  91     -c, --continue             resume partially downloaded files
 
  92     --no-continue              do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
 
  94     --cookies FILE             file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
 
  95     --no-part                  do not use .part files
 
  96     --no-mtime                 do not use the Last-modified header to set the
 
  97                                file modification time
 
  98     --write-description        write video description to a .description file
 
  99     --write-info-json          write video metadata to a .info.json file
 
 100     --write-thumbnail          write thumbnail image to disk
 
 102 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
 
 103     -q, --quiet                activates quiet mode
 
 104     -s, --simulate             do not download the video and do not write
 
 106     --skip-download            do not download the video
 
 107     -g, --get-url              simulate, quiet but print URL
 
 108     -e, --get-title            simulate, quiet but print title
 
 109     --get-id                   simulate, quiet but print id
 
 110     --get-thumbnail            simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
 
 111     --get-description          simulate, quiet but print video description
 
 112     --get-filename             simulate, quiet but print output filename
 
 113     --get-format               simulate, quiet but print output format
 
 114     --newline                  output progress bar as new lines
 
 115     --no-progress              do not print progress bar
 
 116     --console-title            display progress in console titlebar
 
 117     -v, --verbose              print various debugging information
 
 118     --dump-intermediate-pages  print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
 
 121 ## Video Format Options:
 
 122     -f, --format FORMAT        video format code, specifiy the order of
 
 123                                preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18". "-f mp4"
 
 124                                and "-f flv" are also supported
 
 125     --all-formats              download all available video formats
 
 126     --prefer-free-formats      prefer free video formats unless a specific one
 
 128     --max-quality FORMAT       highest quality format to download
 
 129     -F, --list-formats         list all available formats (currently youtube
 
 133     --write-sub                write subtitle file
 
 134     --write-auto-sub           write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)
 
 135     --all-subs                 downloads all the available subtitles of the
 
 137     --list-subs                lists all available subtitles for the video
 
 138     --sub-format FORMAT        subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt] youtube
 
 140     --sub-lang LANGS           languages of the subtitles to download (optional)
 
 141                                separated by commas, use IETF language tags like
 
 144 ## Authentication Options:
 
 145     -u, --username USERNAME    account username
 
 146     -p, --password PASSWORD    account password
 
 147     -n, --netrc                use .netrc authentication data
 
 148     --video-password PASSWORD  video password (vimeo only)
 
 150 ## Post-processing Options:
 
 151     -x, --extract-audio        convert video files to audio-only files (requires
 
 152                                ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
 
 153     --audio-format FORMAT      "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or
 
 154                                "wav"; best by default
 
 155     --audio-quality QUALITY    ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert
 
 156                                a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for VBR
 
 157                                or a specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
 
 158     --recode-video FORMAT      Encode the video to another format if necessary
 
 159                                (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
 
 160     -k, --keep-video           keeps the video file on disk after the post-
 
 161                                processing; the video is erased by default
 
 162     --no-post-overwrites       do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-
 
 163                                processed files are overwritten by default
 
 164     --embed-subs               embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
 
 169 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.conf`.
 
 173 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:
 
 175  - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
 
 176  - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
 
 177  - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
 
 178  - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
 
 179  - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
 
 180  - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
 
 181  - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
 
 182  - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
 
 183  - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
 
 184  - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
 
 186 The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
 
 188 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:
 
 190     $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
 
 191     youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4    # All kinds of weird characters
 
 192     $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
 
 193     youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4          # A simple file name
 
 197 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
 
 199  - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
 
 200  - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
 
 204         $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months #will only download the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
 
 205         $ youtube-dl --date 19700101 #will only download the videos uploaded in January 1, 1970
 
 206         $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20100101 #will only download the videos uploaded between 2000 and 2010
 
 210 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
 
 212 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.
 
 214 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
 
 216 Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
 
 218 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
 
 220 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
 
 222 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
 
 224 The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct 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.
 
 226 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
 
 228 youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
 
 230 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
 
 232 youtube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
 
 234 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
 
 238     File "youtube-dl", line 2
 
 239     SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
 
 241 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
 
 243 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
 
 245 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`.
 
 247 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
 
 249 To run the exe you need to install first the [Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
 
 253 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
 
 255 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
 
 259 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
 
 263 * Your exact command line, like `youtube-dl -t "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlDtZ6Oc3s&feature=channel_video_title"`. A common mistake is not to escape the `&`. Putting URLs in quotes should solve this problem.
 
 264 * If possible re-run the command with `--verbose`, and include the full output, it is really helpful to us.
 
 265 * The output of `youtube-dl --version`
 
 266 * The output of `python --version`
 
 267 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).
 
 269 For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.