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1 % YOUTUBE-DL(1)
2
3 # NAME
4 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
5
6 # SYNOPSIS
7 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
8
9 # DESCRIPTION
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.
15
16 # OPTIONS
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
21 sudo if needed)
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
29 would handle
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.
35 ~/.youtube-dl/cache by default
36 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
37
38 ## Video Selection:
39 --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
40 --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
41 --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or caseless
42 sub-string)
43 --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
44 caseless sub-string)
45 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
46 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
47 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
48 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE (e.g.
49 50k or 44.6m)
50 --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
51 --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded before this date
52 --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded after this date
53
54 ## Download Options:
55 -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
56 -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
57 --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16k)
58 (default is 1024)
59 --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
60 default, the buffer size is automatically resized
61 from an initial value of SIZE.
62
63 ## Filesystem Options:
64 -t, --title use title in file name (default)
65 --id use only video ID in file name
66 -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
67 -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
68 -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to get
69 the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
70 %(uploader_id)s for the uploader nickname if
71 different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
72 incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename
73 extension, %(upload_date)s for the upload date
74 (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
75 (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
76 , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
77 %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
78 playlist and %% for a literal percent. Use - to
79 output to stdout. Can also be used to download to
80 a different directory, for example with -o '/my/d
81 ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
82 --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
83 when it is present in output filename template or
84 --autonumber option is given
85 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
86 avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
87 -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
88 -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
89 -c, --continue resume partially downloaded files
90 --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
91 from beginning)
92 --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
93 --no-part do not use .part files
94 --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set the
95 file modification time
96 --write-description write video description to a .description file
97 --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
98 --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
99
100 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
101 -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
102 -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
103 anything to disk
104 --skip-download do not download the video
105 -g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
106 -e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
107 --get-id simulate, quiet but print id
108 --get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
109 --get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
110 --get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
111 --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
112 --newline output progress bar as new lines
113 --no-progress do not print progress bar
114 --console-title display progress in console titlebar
115 -v, --verbose print various debugging information
116 --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
117 verbose)
118
119 ## Video Format Options:
120 -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specifiy the order of
121 preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18". "-f mp4"
122 and "-f flv" are also supported
123 --all-formats download all available video formats
124 --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific one
125 is requested
126 --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
127 -F, --list-formats list all available formats (currently youtube
128 only)
129
130 ## Subtitle Options:
131 --write-sub write subtitle file
132 --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)
133 --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of the
134 video
135 --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
136 --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt] youtube
137 only)
138 --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download (optional)
139 separated by commas, use IETF language tags like
140 'en,pt'
141
142 ## Authentication Options:
143 -u, --username USERNAME account username
144 -p, --password PASSWORD account password
145 -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
146 --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo only)
147
148 ## Post-processing Options:
149 -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
150 ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
151 --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or
152 "wav"; best by default
153 --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert
154 a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for VBR
155 or a specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
156 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if necessary
157 (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
158 -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the post-
159 processing; the video is erased by default
160 --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-
161 processed files are overwritten by default
162 --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
163 videos)
164
165 # CONFIGURATION
166
167 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`.
168
169 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
170
171 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:
172
173 - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
174 - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
175 - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
176 - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
177 - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
178 - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
179 - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
180 - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
181 - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
182 - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
183
184 The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
185
186 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:
187
188 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
189 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
190 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
191 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
192
193 # VIDEO SELECTION
194
195 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
196
197 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
198 - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
199
200 Examples:
201
202 $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months #will only download the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
203 $ youtube-dl --date 19700101 #will only download the videos uploaded in January 1, 1970
204 $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20100101 #will only download the videos uploaded between 2000 and 2010
205
206 # FAQ
207
208 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
209
210 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.
211
212 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
213
214 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.
215
216 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
217
218 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
219
220 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
221
222 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.
223
224 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
225
226 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`.
227
228 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
229
230 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`.
231
232 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
233
234 The error
235
236 File "youtube-dl", line 2
237 SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
238
239 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
240
241 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
242
243 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`.
244
245 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
246
247 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).
248
249 # COPYRIGHT
250
251 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
252
253 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
254
255 # BUGS
256
257 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
258
259 Please include:
260
261 * 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.
262 * If possible re-run the command with `--verbose`, and include the full output, it is really helpful to us.
263 * The output of `youtube-dl --version`
264 * The output of `python --version`
265 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).
266
267 For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.