debian/README.source: Update my own instructions.

[youtubedl] / README.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2b0ab67eba2215b3c4d1f9189d1f2456ee03dad0..2ca021125902f04a6306acec5e2fd5ac922bfa52 100644 (file)
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,43 +1,62 @@
-# youtube-dl
+% YOUTUBE-DL(1)

 
 

-## USAGE
-youtube-dl [options] url [url...]
+# NAME
+youtube-dl

 
 

-## DESCRIPTION
+# SYNOPSIS
+**youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
+
+# DESCRIPTION

 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version

-2.x (x being at least 5), and it is not platform specific. It should work in
+2.x (x being at least 6), and it is not platform specific. It should work in

 your Unix box, in Windows or in Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
 
 your Unix box, in Windows or in Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
 

-## OPTIONS
+# OPTIONS

     -h, --help               print this help text and exit
     -h, --help               print this help text and exit

-    -v, --version            print program version and exit
+    --version                print program version and exit

     -U, --update             update this program to latest version
     -i, --ignore-errors      continue on download errors
     -r, --rate-limit LIMIT   download rate limit (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
     -R, --retries RETRIES    number of retries (default is 10)
     -U, --update             update this program to latest version
     -i, --ignore-errors      continue on download errors
     -r, --rate-limit LIMIT   download rate limit (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
     -R, --retries RETRIES    number of retries (default is 10)

+    --buffer-size SIZE       size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16k) (default
+                             is 1024)
+    --no-resize-buffer       do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
+                             default, the buffer size is automatically resized
+                             from an initial value of SIZE.

     --dump-user-agent        display the current browser identification
     --dump-user-agent        display the current browser identification

+    --user-agent UA          specify a custom user agent

     --list-extractors        List all supported extractors and the URLs they
                              would handle
 
     --list-extractors        List all supported extractors and the URLs they
                              would handle
 

-### Video Selection:
+## Video Selection:

     --playlist-start NUMBER  playlist video to start at (default is 1)
     --playlist-end NUMBER    playlist video to end at (default is last)
     --match-title REGEX      download only matching titles (regex or caseless
                              sub-string)
     --reject-title REGEX     skip download for matching titles (regex or
                              caseless sub-string)
     --playlist-start NUMBER  playlist video to start at (default is 1)
     --playlist-end NUMBER    playlist video to end at (default is last)
     --match-title REGEX      download only matching titles (regex or caseless
                              sub-string)
     --reject-title REGEX     skip download for matching titles (regex or
                              caseless sub-string)

+    --max-downloads NUMBER   Abort after downloading NUMBER files

 
 

-### Filesystem Options:
+## Filesystem Options:

     -t, --title              use title in file name
     -t, --title              use title in file name

-    -l, --literal            use literal title in file name
+    --id                     use video ID in file name
+    -l, --literal            [deprecated] alias of --title

     -A, --auto-number        number downloaded files starting from 00000
     -A, --auto-number        number downloaded files starting from 00000

-    -o, --output TEMPLATE    output filename template. Use %(stitle)s to get the
+    -o, --output TEMPLATE    output filename template. Use %(title)s to get the

                              title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
                              %(autonumber)s to get an automatically incremented
                              title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
                              %(autonumber)s to get an automatically incremented

-                             number, %(ext)s for the filename extension, and %%
-                             for a literal percent
+                             number, %(ext)s for the filename extension,
+                             %(upload_date)s for the upload date (YYYYMMDD),
+                             %(extractor)s for the provider (youtube, metacafe,
+                             etc), %(id)s for the video id and %% for a literal
+                             percent. Use - to output to stdout. Can also be
+                             used to download to a different directory, for
+                             example with -o '/my/downloads/%(uploader)s/%(title
+                             )s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
+    --restrict-filenames     Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
+                             avoid "&" and spaces in filenames

     -a, --batch-file FILE    file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
     -w, --no-overwrites      do not overwrite files
     -c, --continue           resume partially downloaded files
     -a, --batch-file FILE    file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
     -w, --no-overwrites      do not overwrite files
     -c, --continue           resume partially downloaded files


@@ -50,7 +69,7 @@ which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
     --write-description      write video description to a .description file
     --write-info-json        write video metadata to a .info.json file
 
     --write-description      write video description to a .description file
     --write-info-json        write video metadata to a .info.json file
 

-### Verbosity / Simulation Options:
+## Verbosity / Simulation Options:

     -q, --quiet              activates quiet mode
     -s, --simulate           do not download the video and do not write anything
                              to disk
     -q, --quiet              activates quiet mode
     -s, --simulate           do not download the video and do not write anything
                              to disk


@@ -63,27 +82,63 @@ which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
     --get-format             simulate, quiet but print output format
     --no-progress            do not print progress bar
     --console-title          display progress in console titlebar
     --get-format             simulate, quiet but print output format
     --no-progress            do not print progress bar
     --console-title          display progress in console titlebar

+    -v, --verbose            print various debugging information

 
 

-### Video Format Options:
+## Video Format Options:

     -f, --format FORMAT      video format code
     --all-formats            download all available video formats
     -f, --format FORMAT      video format code
     --all-formats            download all available video formats

+    --prefer-free-formats    prefer free video formats unless a specific one is
+                             requested

     --max-quality FORMAT     highest quality format to download
     -F, --list-formats       list all available formats (currently youtube only)
     --max-quality FORMAT     highest quality format to download
     -F, --list-formats       list all available formats (currently youtube only)

+    --write-srt              write video closed captions to a .srt file
+                             (currently youtube only)
+    --srt-lang LANG          language of the closed captions to download
+                             (optional) use IETF language tags like 'en'

 
 

-### Authentication Options:
+## Authentication Options:

     -u, --username USERNAME  account username
     -p, --password PASSWORD  account password
     -n, --netrc              use .netrc authentication data
 
     -u, --username USERNAME  account username
     -p, --password PASSWORD  account password
     -n, --netrc              use .netrc authentication data
 

-### Post-processing Options:
-    --extract-audio          convert video files to audio-only files (requires
-                             ffmpeg and ffprobe)
-    --audio-format FORMAT    "best", "aac", "vorbis" or "mp3"; best by default
-    --audio-quality QUALITY  ffmpeg audio bitrate specification, 128k by default
+## Post-processing Options:
+    -x, --extract-audio      convert video files to audio-only files (requires
+                             ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
+    --audio-format FORMAT    "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", or "wav";
+                             best by default
+    --audio-quality QUALITY  ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert a
+                             value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for VBR or a
+                             specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)

     -k, --keep-video         keeps the video file on disk after the post-
                              processing; the video is erased by default
 
     -k, --keep-video         keeps the video file on disk after the post-
                              processing; the video is erased by default
 

-## FAQ
+# CONFIGURATION
+
+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 `~/.local/config/youtube-dl.conf`.
+
+# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
+
+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:
+
+ - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
+ - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
+ - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
+ - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
+ - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
+ - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
+ - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
+ - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
+
+The current default template is `%(id)s.%(ext)s`, but that will be switchted to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` (which can be requested with `-t` at the moment).
+
+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:
+
+    $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
+    youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4    # All kinds of weird characters
+    $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
+    youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4          # A simple file name
+
+# FAQ

 
 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
 
 
 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
 


@@ -99,19 +154,40 @@ Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://w
 
 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
 
 
 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
 

-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.
+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.

 
 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
 
 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`.
 
 
 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
 
 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`.
 

-## COPYRIGHT
+### ERROR: unable to download video ###
+
+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`.
+
+### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
+
+The error
+
+    File "youtube-dl", line 2
+    SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
+
+means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
+
+### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
+
+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`.
+
+### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
+
+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).
+
+# COPYRIGHT

 
 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
 
 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
 
 
 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
 
 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
 

-## BUGS
+# BUGS

 
 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
 
 
 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
 


@@ -121,3 +197,5 @@ Please include:
 * The output of `youtube-dl --version`
 * The output of `python --version`
 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).
 * The output of `youtube-dl --version`
 * The output of `python --version`
 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).

+
+For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.