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[youtubedl] / README.md
1 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
2
3 - [INSTALLATION](#installation)
4 - [DESCRIPTION](#description)
5 - [OPTIONS](#options)
6 - [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
7 - [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
8 - [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection)
9 - [FAQ](#faq)
10 - [DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS](#developer-instructions)
11 - [BUGS](#bugs)
12 - [COPYRIGHT](#copyright)
13
14 # INSTALLATION
15
16 To install it right away for all UNIX users (Linux, OS X, etc.), type:
17
18 sudo curl https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
19 sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
20
21 If you do not have curl, you can alternatively use a recent wget:
22
23 sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
24 sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
25
26 Windows users can [download a .exe file](https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe) and place it in their home directory or any other location on their [PATH](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_%28variable%29).
27
28 OS X users can install **youtube-dl** with [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/).
29
30 brew install youtube-dl
31
32 You can also use pip:
33
34 sudo pip install youtube-dl
35
36 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 .
37
38 # DESCRIPTION
39 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
40 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
41 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
42 your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
43 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
44
45 youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
46
47 # OPTIONS
48 -h, --help print this help text and exit
49 --version print program version and exit
50 -U, --update update this program to latest version. Make
51 sure that you have sufficient permissions
52 (run with sudo if needed)
53 -i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors, for example to
54 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
55 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
56 playlist or the command line) if an error
57 occurs
58 --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
59 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs
60 they would handle
61 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
62 extractors
63 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
64 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
65 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
66 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
67 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
68 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
69 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
70 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
71 this is not possible instead of searching.
72 --ignore-config Do not read configuration files. When given
73 in the global configuration file /etc
74 /youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
75 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
76 dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
77 on Windows)
78 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
79 only list them.
80
81 ## Network Options:
82 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in
83 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
84 connection
85 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
86 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
87 (experimental)
88 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
89 (experimental)
90 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
91 (experimental)
92
93 ## Video Selection:
94 --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
95 --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
96 --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or
97 caseless sub-string)
98 --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
99 caseless sub-string)
100 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
101 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
102 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
103 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
104 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
105 --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
106 --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded on or before
107 this date (i.e. inclusive)
108 --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded on or after
109 this date (i.e. inclusive)
110 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
111 COUNT views
112 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
113 COUNT views
114 --no-playlist If the URL refers to a video and a
115 playlist, download only the video.
116 --age-limit YEARS download only videos suitable for the given
117 age
118 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
119 archive file. Record the IDs of all
120 downloaded videos in it.
121 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
122 (experimental)
123
124 ## Download Options:
125 -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second
126 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
127 -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
128 --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
129 (default is 1024)
130 --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer
131 size. By default, the buffer size is
132 automatically resized from an initial value
133 of SIZE.
134 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
135
136 ## Filesystem Options:
137 -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for
138 stdin)
139 --id use only video ID in file name
140 -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to
141 get the title, %(uploader)s for the
142 uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
143 uploader nickname if different,
144 %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
145 incremented number, %(ext)s for the
146 filename extension, %(format)s for the
147 format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
148 "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
149 the format (like Youtube's itags: "137"),
150 %(upload_date)s for the upload date
151 (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
152 (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
153 video id, %(playlist_title)s,
154 %(playlist_id)s, or %(playlist)s (=title if
155 present, ID otherwise) for the playlist the
156 video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
157 position in the playlist. %(height)s and
158 %(width)s for the width and height of the
159 video format. %(resolution)s for a textual
160 description of the resolution of the video
161 format. %% for a literal percent. Use - to
162 output to stdout. Can also be used to
163 download to a different directory, for
164 example with -o '/my/downloads/%(uploader)s
165 /%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
166 --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in
167 %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
168 filename template or --auto-number option
169 is given
170 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
171 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
172 filenames
173 -A, --auto-number [deprecated; use -o
174 "%(autonumber)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" ] number
175 downloaded files starting from 00000
176 -t, --title [deprecated] use title in file name
177 (default)
178 -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
179 -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
180 -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files.
181 By default, youtube-dl will resume
182 downloads if possible.
183 --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files
184 (restart from beginning)
185 --no-part do not use .part files - write directly
186 into output file
187 --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set
188 the file modification time
189 --write-description write video description to a .description
190 file
191 --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
192 --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation
193 file
194 --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
195 --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
196 (created with the "--write-json" option)
197 --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie
198 jar in
199 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
200 can store some downloaded information
201 permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME
202 /youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the
203 moment, only YouTube player files (for
204 videos with obfuscated signatures) are
205 cached, but that may change.
206 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
207 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
208
209 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
210 -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
211 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
212 -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
213 anything to disk
214 --skip-download do not download the video
215 -g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
216 -e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
217 --get-id simulate, quiet but print id
218 --get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
219 --get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
220 --get-duration simulate, quiet but print video length
221 --get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
222 --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
223 -j, --dump-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
224 See --output for a description of available
225 keys.
226 -J, --dump-single-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information
227 for each command-line argument. If the URL
228 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
229 playlist information in a single line.
230 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
231 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
232 --newline output progress bar as new lines
233 --no-progress do not print progress bar
234 --console-title display progress in console titlebar
235 -v, --verbose print various debugging information
236 --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems
237 (very verbose)
238 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
239 files in the current directory to debug
240 problems
241 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
242 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dl server for
243 debugging.
244 --no-call-home Do NOT contact the youtube-dl server for
245 debugging.
246
247 ## Workarounds:
248 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
249 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
250 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
251 information about the video. (Currently
252 supported only for YouTube)
253 --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
254 --referer URL specify a custom referer, use if the video
255 access is restricted to one domain
256 --add-header FIELD:VALUE specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
257 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
258 option multiple times
259 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
260 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
261 or fribidi executable in PATH
262
263 ## Video Format Options:
264 -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
265 preference using slashes, as in -f 22/17/18
266 . Instead of format codes, you can select
267 by extension for the extensions aac, m4a,
268 mp3, mp4, ogg, wav, webm. You can also use
269 the special names "best", "bestvideo",
270 "bestaudio", "worst". By default, youtube-
271 dl will pick the best quality. Use commas
272 to download multiple audio formats, such as
273 -f
274 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio.
275 You can merge the video and audio of two
276 formats into a single file using -f <video-
277 format>+<audio-format> (requires ffmpeg or
278 avconv), for example -f
279 bestvideo+bestaudio.
280 --all-formats download all available video formats
281 --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific
282 one is requested
283 --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
284 -F, --list-formats list all available formats
285 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifest on
286 YouTube videos
287 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
288 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
289 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
290 webm, flv.Ignored if no merge is required
291
292 ## Subtitle Options:
293 --write-sub write subtitle file
294 --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube
295 only)
296 --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of
297 the video
298 --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
299 --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt]
300 youtube only)
301 --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download
302 (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
303 language tags like 'en,pt'
304
305 ## Authentication Options:
306 -u, --username USERNAME login with this account ID
307 -p, --password PASSWORD account password
308 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR two-factor auth code
309 -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
310 --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo, smotri)
311
312 ## Post-processing Options:
313 -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files
314 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
315 avprobe)
316 --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a",
317 "opus", or "wav"; "best" by default
318 --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification,
319 insert a value between 0 (better) and 9
320 (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate like
321 128K (default 5)
322 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
323 necessary (currently supported:
324 mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv)
325 -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the
326 post-processing; the video is erased by
327 default
328 --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the
329 post-processed files are overwritten by
330 default
331 --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
332 videos)
333 --embed-thumbnail embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
334 --add-metadata write metadata to the video file
335 --xattrs write metadata to the video file's xattrs
336 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
337 --fixup POLICY (experimental) Automatically correct known
338 faults of the file. One of never (do
339 nothing), warn (only emit a warning),
340 detect_or_warn(check whether we can do
341 anything about it, warn otherwise
342 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
343 postprocessors (default)
344 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
345 postprocessors
346 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
347 downloading, similar to find's -exec
348 syntax. Example: --exec 'adb push {}
349 /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
350
351 # CONFIGURATION
352
353 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`.
354
355 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
356
357 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:
358
359 - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
360 - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
361 - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
362 - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
363 - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
364 - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
365 - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
366 - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
367 - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
368 - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
369
370 The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
371
372 In some cases, you don't want special characters such as äø­, 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:
373
374 ```bash
375 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
376 youtube-dl test video ''_Ƥā†­š•.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
377 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
378 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
379 ```
380
381 # VIDEO SELECTION
382
383 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
384
385 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
386 - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
387
388 Examples:
389
390 ```bash
391 # Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
392 $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
393
394 # Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
395 $ youtube-dl --date 19700101
396
397 $ # will only download the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
398 $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
399 ```
400
401 # FAQ
402
403 ### How do I update youtube-dl?
404
405 If you've followed [our manual installation instructions](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html), you can simply run `youtube-dl -U` (or, on Linux, `sudo youtube-dl -U`).
406
407 If you have used pip, a simple `sudo pip install -U youtube-dl` is sufficient to update.
408
409 If you have installed youtube-dl using a package manager like *apt-get* or *yum*, use the standard system update mechanism to update. Note that distribution packages are often outdated. As a rule of thumb, youtube-dl releases at least once a month, and often weekly or even daily. Simply go to http://yt-dl.org/ to find out the current version. Unfortunately, there is nothing we youtube-dl developers can do if your distributions serves a really outdated version. You can (and should) complain to your distribution in their bugtracker or support forum.
410
411 As a last resort, you can also uninstall the version installed by your package manager and follow our manual installation instructions. For that, remove the distribution's package, with a line like
412
413 sudo apt-get remove -y youtube-dl
414
415 Afterwards, simply follow [our manual installation instructions](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html):
416
417 ```
418 sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
419 sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
420 hash -r
421 ```
422
423 Again, from then on you'll be able to update with `sudo youtube-dl -U`.
424
425 ### I'm getting an error `Unable to extract OpenGraph title` on YouTube playlists
426
427 YouTube changed their playlist format in March 2014 and later on, so you'll need at least youtube-dl 2014.07.25 to download all YouTube videos.
428
429 If you have installed youtube-dl with a package manager, pip, setup.py or a tarball, please use that to update. Note that Ubuntu packages do not seem to get updated anymore. Since we are not affiliated with Ubuntu, there is little we can do. Feel free to [report bugs](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/youtube-dl/+filebug) to the [Ubuntu packaging guys](mailto:ubuntu-motu@lists.ubuntu.com?subject=outdated%20version%20of%20youtube-dl) - all they have to do is update the package to a somewhat recent version. See above for a way to update.
430
431 ### Do I always have to pass in `--max-quality FORMAT`, or `-citw`?
432
433 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, `--max-quality` *limits* the video quality (so if you want the best quality, do NOT pass it in), and the only option out of `-citw` that is regularly useful is `-i`.
434
435 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
436
437 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.
438
439 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
440
441 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.
442
443 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
444
445 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
446
447 ### I extracted a video URL with -g, but it does not play on another machine / in my webbrowser.
448
449 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.
450
451 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.
452
453 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.
454
455 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.
456
457 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
458
459 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`.
460
461 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
462
463 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`.
464
465 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
466
467 The error
468
469 File "youtube-dl", line 2
470 SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
471
472 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
473
474 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
475
476 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`.
477
478 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
479
480 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).
481
482 ### On Windows, how should I set up ffmpeg and youtube-dl? Where should I put the exe files?
483
484 If you put youtube-dl and ffmpeg in the same directory that you're running the command from, it will work, but that's rather cumbersome.
485
486 To make a different directory work - either for ffmpeg, or for youtube-dl, or for both - simply create the directory (say, `C:\bin`, or `C:\Users\<User name>\bin`), put all the executables directly in there, and then [set your PATH environment variable](https://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.xml) to include that directory.
487
488 From then on, after restarting your shell, you will be able to access both youtube-dl and ffmpeg (and youtube-dl will be able to find ffmpeg) by simply typing `youtube-dl` or `ffmpeg`, no matter what directory you're in.
489
490 ### How can I detect whether a given URL is supported by youtube-dl?
491
492 For one, have a look at the [list of supported sites](docs/supportedsites). Note that it can sometimes happen that the site changes its URL scheme (say, from http://example.com/v/1234567 to http://example.com/v/1234567 ) and youtube-dl reports an URL of a service in that list as unsupported. In that case, simply report a bug.
493
494 It is *not* possible to detect whether a URL is supported or not. That's because youtube-dl contains a generic extractor which matches **all** URLs. You may be tempted to disable, exclude, or remove the generic extractor, but the generic extractor not only allows users to extract videos from lots of websites that embed a video from another service, but may also be used to extract video from a service that it's hosting itself. Therefore, we neither recommend nor support disabling, excluding, or removing the generic extractor.
495
496 If you want to find out whether a given URL is supported, simply call youtube-dl with it. If you get no videos back, chances are the URL is either not referring to a video or unsupported. You can find out which by examining the output (if you run youtube-dl on the console) or catching an `UnsupportedError` exception if you run it from a Python program.
497
498 # DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS
499
500 Most users do not need to build youtube-dl and can [download the builds](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html) or get them from their distribution.
501
502 To run youtube-dl as a developer, you don't need to build anything either. Simply execute
503
504 python -m youtube_dl
505
506 To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a test file directly; any of the following work:
507
508 python -m unittest discover
509 python test/test_download.py
510 nosetests
511
512 If you want to create a build of youtube-dl yourself, you'll need
513
514 * python
515 * make
516 * pandoc
517 * zip
518 * nosetests
519
520 ### Adding support for a new site
521
522 If you want to add support for a new site, you can follow this quick list (assuming your service is called `yourextractor`):
523
524 1. [Fork this repository](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/fork)
525 2. Check out the source code with `git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/youtube-dl.git`
526 3. Start a new git branch with `cd youtube-dl; git checkout -b yourextractor`
527 4. Start with this simple template and save it to `youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py`:
528 ```python
529 # coding: utf-8
530 from __future__ import unicode_literals
531
532 from .common import InfoExtractor
533
534
535 class YourExtractorIE(InfoExtractor):
536 _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?yourextractor\.com/watch/(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
537 _TEST = {
538 'url': 'http://yourextractor.com/watch/42',
539 'md5': 'TODO: md5 sum of the first 10241 bytes of the video file (use --test)',
540 'info_dict': {
541 'id': '42',
542 'ext': 'mp4',
543 'title': 'Video title goes here',
544 'thumbnail': 're:^https?://.*\.jpg$',
545 # TODO more properties, either as:
546 # * A value
547 # * MD5 checksum; start the string with md5:
548 # * A regular expression; start the string with re:
549 # * Any Python type (for example int or float)
550 }
551 }
552
553 def _real_extract(self, url):
554 video_id = self._match_id(url)
555 webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
556
557 # TODO more code goes here, for example ...
558 title = self._html_search_regex(r'<h1>(.*?)</h1>', webpage, 'title')
559
560 return {
561 'id': video_id,
562 'title': title,
563 'description': self._og_search_description(webpage),
564 # TODO more properties (see youtube_dl/extractor/common.py)
565 }
566 ```
567 5. Add an import in [`youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py).
568 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.
569 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.
570 8. If you can, check the code with [pyflakes](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyflakes) (a good idea) and [pep8](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pep8) (optional, ignore E501).
571 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:
572
573 $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
574 $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py
575 $ git commit -m '[yourextractor] Add new extractor'
576 $ git push origin yourextractor
577
578 10. Finally, [create a pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request). We'll then review and merge it.
579
580 In any case, thank you very much for your contributions!
581
582 # EMBEDDING YOUTUBE-DL
583
584 youtube-dl makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language. If you encounter any problems parsing its output, feel free to [create a report](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/new).
585
586 From a Python program, you can embed youtube-dl in a more powerful fashion, like this:
587
588 ```python
589 import youtube_dl
590
591 ydl_opts = {}
592 with youtube_dl.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
593 ydl.download(['http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
594 ```
595
596 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.
597
598 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:
599
600 ```python
601 import youtube_dl
602
603
604 class MyLogger(object):
605 def debug(self, msg):
606 pass
607
608 def warning(self, msg):
609 pass
610
611 def error(self, msg):
612 print(msg)
613
614
615 def my_hook(d):
616 if d['status'] == 'finished':
617 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
618
619
620 ydl_opts = {
621 'format': 'bestaudio/best',
622 'postprocessors': [{
623 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
624 'preferredcodec': 'mp3',
625 'preferredquality': '192',
626 }],
627 'logger': MyLogger(),
628 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
629 }
630 with youtube_dl.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
631 ydl.download(['http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
632 ```
633
634 # BUGS
635
636 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues> . Unless you were prompted so or there is another pertinent reason (e.g. GitHub fails to accept the bug report), please do not send bug reports via personal email. For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
637
638 **Please include the full output of youtube-dl when run with `-v`**.
639
640 The output (including the first lines) contain important debugging information. Issues without the full output are often not reproducible and therefore do not get solved in short order, if ever.
641
642 Please re-read your issue once again to avoid a couple of common mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist):
643
644 ### Is the description of the issue itself sufficient?
645
646 We often get issue reports that we cannot really decipher. While in most cases we eventually get the required information after asking back multiple times, this poses an unnecessary drain on our resources. Many contributors, including myself, are also not native speakers, so we may misread some parts.
647
648 So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you want to be fixed. Make sure that it's obvious
649
650 - What the problem is
651 - How it could be fixed
652 - How your proposed solution would look like
653
654 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.
655
656 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.
657
658 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.
659
660 ### Are you using the latest version?
661
662 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.
663
664 ### Is the issue already documented?
665
666 Make sure that someone has not already opened the issue you're trying to open. Search at the top of the window or at https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/search?type=Issues . If there is an issue, feel free to write something along the lines of "This affects me as well, with version 2015.01.01. Here is some more information on the issue: ...". While some issues may be old, a new post into them often spurs rapid activity.
667
668 ### Why are existing options not enough?
669
670 Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at [the list of supported options](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#synopsis). Many feature requests are for features that actually exist already! Please, absolutely do show off your work in the issue report and detail how the existing similar options do *not* solve your problem.
671
672 ### Is there enough context in your bug report?
673
674 People want to solve problems, and often think they do us a favor by breaking down their larger problems (e.g. wanting to skip already downloaded files) to a specific request (e.g. requesting us to look whether the file exists before downloading the info page). However, what often happens is that they break down the problem into two steps: One simple, and one impossible (or extremely complicated one).
675
676 We are then presented with a very complicated request when the original problem could be solved far easier, e.g. by recording the downloaded video IDs in a separate file. To avoid this, you must include the greater context where it is non-obvious. In particular, every feature request that does not consist of adding support for a new site should contain a use case scenario that explains in what situation the missing feature would be useful.
677
678 ### Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only?
679
680 Some of our users seem to think there is a limit of issues they can or should open. There is no limit of issues they can or should open. While it may seem appealing to be able to dump all your issues into one ticket, that means that someone who solves one of your issues cannot mark the issue as closed. Typically, reporting a bunch of issues leads to the ticket lingering since nobody wants to attack that behemoth, until someone mercifully splits the issue into multiple ones.
681
682 In particular, every site support request issue should only pertain to services at one site (generally under a common domain, but always using the same backend technology). Do not request support for vimeo user videos, Whitehouse podcasts, and Google Plus pages in the same issue. Also, make sure that you don't post bug reports alongside feature requests. As a rule of thumb, a feature request does not include outputs of youtube-dl that are not immediately related to the feature at hand. Do not post reports of a network error alongside the request for a new video service.
683
684 ### Is anyone going to need the feature?
685
686 Only post features that you (or an incapicated friend you can personally talk to) require. Do not post features because they seem like a good idea. If they are really useful, they will be requested by someone who requires them.
687
688 ### Is your question about youtube-dl?
689
690 It may sound strange, but some bug reports we receive are completely unrelated to youtube-dl and relate to a different or even the reporter's own application. Please make sure that you are actually using youtube-dl. If you are using a UI for youtube-dl, report the bug to the maintainer of the actual application providing the UI. On the other hand, if your UI for youtube-dl fails in some way you believe is related to youtube-dl, by all means, go ahead and report the bug.
691
692 # COPYRIGHT
693
694 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
695
696 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.