+ youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
+
+# OPTIONS
+ -h, --help Print this help text and exit
+ --version Print program version and exit
+ -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
+ sure that you have sufficient permissions
+ (run with sudo if needed)
+ -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
+ skip unavailable videos in a playlist
+ --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
+ playlist or the command line) if an error
+ occurs
+ --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
+ --list-extractors List all supported extractors
+ --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
+ extractors
+ --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
+ extractor
+ --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
+ example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
+ from google videos for youtube-dl "large
+ apple". Use the value "auto" to let
+ youtube-dl 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 Do not read configuration files. When given
+ in the global configuration file
+ /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
+ configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
+ dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
+ on Windows)
+ --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
+ only list them.
+ --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
+ --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (YouTube only)
+ --no-color Do not emit color codes in output
+
+## Network Options:
+ --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
+ To enable experimental SOCKS proxy, specify
+ a proper scheme. For example
+ socks5://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
+ (experimental)
+ -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
+ (experimental)
+ -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
+ (experimental)
+ --cn-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
+ some Chinese sites. The default proxy
+ specified by --proxy (or none, if the
+ options is not present) is used for the
+ actual downloading. (experimental)
+
+## Video Selection:
+ --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
+ --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
+ --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
+ indices of the videos in the playlist
+ separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
+ 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
+ indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
+ specify range: "--playlist-items
+ 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
+ at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13.
+ --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
+ --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
+ SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
+ --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
+ (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
+ --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date
+ --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
+ this date (i.e. inclusive)
+ --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
+ this date (i.e. inclusive)
+ --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
+ COUNT views
+ --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
+ COUNT views
+ --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter (experimental).
+ Specify any key (see help for -o for a list
+ of available keys) to match if the key is
+ present, !key to check if the key is not
+ present,key > NUMBER (like "comment_count >
+ 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
+ compare against a number, and & to require
+ multiple matches. Values which are not
+ known are excluded unless you put a
+ question mark (?) after the operator.For
+ example, to only match videos that have
+ been liked more than 100 times and disliked
+ less than 50 times (or the dislike
+ functionality is not available at the given
+ service), but who also have a description,
+ use --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
+ dislike_count <? 50 & description" .
+ --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
+ a video and a playlist.
+ --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
+ age
+ --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
+ archive file. Record the IDs of all
+ downloaded videos in it.
+ --include-ads Download advertisements as well
+ (experimental)
+
+## Download Options:
+ -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
+ (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
+ -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
+ "infinite".
+ --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
+ is 10), or "infinite" (DASH only)
+ --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.
+ --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
+ --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
+ expected filesize (experimental)
+ --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
+ ffmpeg
+ --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
+ downloader
+ --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
+ allowing to play the video while
+ downloading (some players may not be able
+ to play it)
+ --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
+ Currently supports
+ aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
+ --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
+ downloader
+
+## Filesystem Options:
+ -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
+ stdin)
+ --id Use only video ID in file name
+ -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template. Use %(title)s to
+ get the title, %(uploader)s for the
+ uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
+ uploader nickname if different,
+ %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
+ incremented number, %(ext)s for the
+ filename extension, %(format)s for the
+ format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
+ "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
+ the format (like YouTube's itags: "137"),
+ %(upload_date)s for the upload date
+ (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
+ (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
+ video id, %(playlist_title)s,
+ %(playlist_id)s, or %(playlist)s (=title if
+ present, ID otherwise) for the playlist the
+ video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
+ position in the playlist. %(height)s and
+ %(width)s for the width and height of the
+ video format. %(resolution)s for a textual
+ description of the resolution of the video
+ format. %% 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' .
+ --autonumber-size NUMBER Specify the number of digits in
+ %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
+ filename template or --auto-number option
+ is given
+ --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
+ characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
+ filenames
+ -A, --auto-number [deprecated; use -o
+ "%(autonumber)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" ] Number
+ downloaded files starting from 00000
+ -t, --title [deprecated] Use title in file name
+ (default)
+ -l, --literal [deprecated] Alias of --title
+ -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
+ -c, --continue Force resume of partially downloaded files.
+ By default, youtube-dl will resume
+ downloads if possible.
+ --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded files
+ (restart from beginning)
+ --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
+ into output file
+ --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
+ the file modification time
+ --write-description Write video description to a .description
+ file
+ --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
+ --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
+ .annotations.xml file
+ --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
+ (created with the "--write-info-json"
+ option)
+ --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
+ jar in
+ --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
+ can store some downloaded information
+ permanently. By default
+ $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
+ ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
+ YouTube player files (for videos with
+ obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
+ may change.
+ --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
+ --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
+
+## Thumbnail images:
+ --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
+ --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
+ --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
+ formats
+
+## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
+ -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
+ --no-warnings Ignore warnings
+ -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
+ anything to disk
+ --skip-download Do not download the video
+ -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
+ -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
+ --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
+ --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
+ --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
+ --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
+ --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
+ --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
+ -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
+ See --output for a description of available
+ keys.
+ -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
+ for each command-line argument. If the URL
+ refers to a playlist, dump the whole
+ playlist information in a single line.
+ --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
+ JSON (video is still being downloaded).
+ --newline Output progress bar as new lines
+ --no-progress Do not print progress bar
+ --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
+ -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
+ --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
+ to debug problems (very verbose)
+ --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
+ files in the current directory to debug
+ problems
+ --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
+ -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dl server for debugging
+ --no-call-home Do NOT contact the youtube-dl server for
+ debugging
+
+## Workarounds:
+ --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
+ --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
+ --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
+ information about the video. (Currently
+ supported only for YouTube)
+ --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
+ --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
+ access is restricted to one domain
+ --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
+ separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
+ option multiple times
+ --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
+ bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
+ or fribidi executable in PATH
+ --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
+ download.
+
+## Video Format Options:
+ -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see the "FORMAT
+ SELECTION" for all the info
+ --all-formats Download all available video formats
+ --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific
+ one is requested
+ -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
+ videos
+ --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
+ related data on YouTube videos
+ --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
+ bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
+ container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
+ webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
+
+## Subtitle Options:
+ --write-sub Write subtitle file
+ --write-auto-sub Write automatically generated subtitle file
+ (YouTube only)
+ --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
+ video
+ --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
+ --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
+ preference, for example: "srt" or
+ "ass/srt/best"
+ --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
+ (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
+ subs for available language tags
+
+## Authentication Options:
+ -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
+ -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
+ out, youtube-dl will ask interactively.
+ -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor auth code
+ -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
+ --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, smotri, youku)
+
+## Post-processing Options:
+ -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
+ (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
+ avprobe)
+ --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
+ "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or "wav";
+ "best" by default
+ --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
+ a value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse)
+ for VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
+ (default 5)
+ --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
+ necessary (currently supported:
+ mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
+ --postprocessor-args ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessor
+ -k, --keep-video Keep the video file on disk after the post-
+ processing; the video is erased by default
+ --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files; the
+ post-processed files are overwritten by
+ default
+ --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
+ webm and mkv videos)
+ --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
+ --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
+ --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
+ artist from the video title. The format
+ syntax is the same as --output, the parsed
+ parameters replace existing values.
+ Additional templates: %(album)s,
+ %(artist)s. Example: --metadata-from-title
+ "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a title
+ like "Coldplay - Paradise"
+ --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
+ (using dublin core and xdg standards)
+ --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
+ file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
+ emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
+ default; fix file if we can, warn
+ otherwise)
+ --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
+ postprocessors (default)
+ --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
+ postprocessors
+ --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
+ either the path to the binary or its
+ containing directory.
+ --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
+ downloading, similar to find's -exec
+ syntax. Example: --exec 'adb push {}
+ /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
+ --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
+ (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt)
+
+# CONFIGURATION
+
+You can configure youtube-dl by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux and OS X, the system wide configuration file is located at `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and the user wide configuration file at `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the user wide configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` or `C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dl.conf`.
+
+For example, with the following configuration file youtube-dl will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `Movies` directory in your home directory:
+```
+-x
+--no-mtime
+--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
+-o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
+```
+
+Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`.
+
+You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dl run.
+
+### Authentication with `.netrc` file
+
+You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every youtube-dl execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in your `$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by you only:
+```
+touch $HOME/.netrc
+chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
+```
+After that you can add credentials for extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of extractor in lowercase:
+```
+machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
+```
+For example:
+```
+machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
+machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
+```
+To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to youtube-dl or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
+
+On Windows you may also need to setup the `%HOME%` environment variable manually.
+
+# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
+
+The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
+
+**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
+
+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 parentheses, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
+
+ - `id`: Video identifier
+ - `title`: Video title
+ - `url`: Video URL
+ - `ext`: Video filename extension
+ - `alt_title`: A secondary title of the video
+ - `display_id`: An alternative identifier for the video
+ - `uploader`: Full name of the video uploader
+ - `license`: License name the video is licensed under
+ - `creator`: The creator of the video
+ - `release_date`: The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
+ - `timestamp`: UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
+ - `upload_date`: Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
+ - `uploader_id`: Nickname or id of the video uploader
+ - `location`: Physical location where the video was filmed
+ - `duration`: Length of the video in seconds
+ - `view_count`: How many users have watched the video on the platform
+ - `like_count`: Number of positive ratings of the video
+ - `dislike_count`: Number of negative ratings of the video
+ - `repost_count`: Number of reposts of the video
+ - `average_rating`: Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
+ - `comment_count`: Number of comments on the video
+ - `age_limit`: Age restriction for the video (years)
+ - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
+ - `format_id`: Format code specified by `--format`
+ - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
+ - `width`: Width of the video
+ - `height`: Height of the video
+ - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
+ - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
+ - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
+ - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
+ - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
+ - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
+ - `fps`: Frame rate
+ - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
+ - `container`: Name of the container format
+ - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
+ - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
+ - `protocol`: The protocol that will be used for the actual download
+ - `extractor`: Name of the extractor
+ - `extractor_key`: Key name of the extractor
+ - `epoch`: Unix epoch when creating the file
+ - `autonumber`: Five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero
+ - `playlist`: Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
+ - `playlist_index`: Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
+ - `playlist_id`: Playlist identifier
+ - `playlist_title`: Playlist title
+
+
+Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
+ - `chapter`: Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
+ - `chapter_number`: Number of the chapter the video belongs to
+ - `chapter_id`: Id of the chapter the video belongs to
+
+Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
+ - `series`: Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
+ - `season`: Title of the season the video episode belongs to
+ - `season_number`: Number of the season the video episode belongs to
+ - `season_id`: Id of the season the video episode belongs to
+ - `episode`: Title of the video episode
+ - `episode_number`: Number of the video episode within a season
+ - `episode_id`: Id of the video episode
+
+Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
+ - `track`: Title of the track
+ - `track_number`: Number of the track within an album or a disc
+ - `track_id`: Id of the track
+ - `artist`: Artist(s) of the track
+ - `genre`: Genre(s) of the track
+ - `album`: Title of the album the track belongs to
+ - `album_type`: Type of the album
+ - `album_artist`: List of all artists appeared on the album
+ - `disc_number`: Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
+ - `release_year`: Year (YYYY) when the album was released
+
+Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, such sequences will be replaced with `NA`.
+
+For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and mp4 video with title `youtube-dl test video` and id `BaW_jenozKcj` this will result in a `youtube-dl test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
+
+Output template can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s'` that will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
+
+To specify percent literal in output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
+
+The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
+
+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:
+
+#### Output template and Windows batch files
+
+If you are using output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
+
+#### Output template examples
+
+Note on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
+
+```bash
+$ youtube-dl --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
+youtube-dl test video ''_Ƥāš.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
+
+# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
+$ youtube-dl -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
+
+# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
+$ youtube-dl -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
+
+# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
+$ youtube-dl -u user -p password -o '~/MyVideos/%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
+
+# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
+$ youtube-dl -o "C:/MyVideos/%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" http://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
+
+# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
+$ youtube-dl -o - BaW_jenozKc
+```
+
+# FORMAT SELECTION
+
+By default youtube-dl tries to download the best available quality, i.e. if you want the best quality you **don't need** to pass any special options, youtube-dl will guess it for you by **default**.
+
+But sometimes you may want to download in a different format, for example when you are on a slow or intermittent connection. The key mechanism for achieving this is so called *format selection* based on which you can explicitly specify desired format, select formats based on some criterion or criteria, setup precedence and much more.
+
+The general syntax for format selection is `--format FORMAT` or shorter `-f FORMAT` where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
+
+**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
+
+The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
+
+You can also use a file extension (currently `3gp`, `aac`, `flv`, `m4a`, `mp3`, `mp4`, `ogg`, `wav`, `webm` are supported) to download best quality format of particular file extension served as a single file, e.g. `-f webm` will download best quality format with `webm` extension served as a single file.
+
+You can also use special names to select particular edge case format:
+ - `best`: Select best quality format represented by single file with video and audio
+ - `worst`: Select worst quality format represented by single file with video and audio
+ - `bestvideo`: Select best quality video only format (e.g. DASH video), may not be available
+ - `worstvideo`: Select worst quality video only format, may not be available
+ - `bestaudio`: Select best quality audio only format, may not be available
+ - `worstaudio`: Select worst quality audio only format, may not be available
+
+For example, to download worst quality video only format you can use `-f worstvideo`.
+
+If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that slash is left-associative, i.e. formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
+
+If you want to download several formats of the same video use comma as a separator, e.g. `-f 22,17,18` will download all these three formats, of course if they are available. Or more sophisticated example combined with precedence feature `-f 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio`.
+
+You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
+
+The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
+ - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
+ - `width`: Width of the video, if known
+ - `height`: Height of the video, if known
+ - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
+ - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
+ - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
+ - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
+ - `fps`: Frame rate
+
+Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals), `^=` (begins with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
+ - `ext`: File extension
+ - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
+ - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
+ - `container`: Name of the container format
+ - `protocol`: The protocol that will be used for the actual download, lower-case. `http`, `https`, `rtsp`, `rtmp`, `rtmpe`, `m3u8`, or `m3u8_native`
+ - `format_id`: A short description of the format
+
+Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by video hoster.
+
+Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height <=? 720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s.
+
+You can merge the video and audio of two formats into a single file using `-f <video-format>+<audio-format>` (requires ffmpeg or avconv installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download best video only format, best audio only format and mux them together with ffmpeg/avconv.
+
+Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
+
+Since the end of April 2015 and version 2015.04.26 youtube-dl uses `-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best` as default format selection (see [#5447](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/5447), [#5456](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/5456)). If ffmpeg or avconv are installed this results in downloading `bestvideo` and `bestaudio` separately and muxing them together into a single file giving the best overall quality available. Otherwise it falls back to `best` and results in downloading the best available quality served as a single file. `best` is also needed for videos that don't come from YouTube because they don't provide the audio and video in two different files. If you want to only download some DASH formats (for example if you are not interested in getting videos with a resolution higher than 1080p), you can add `-f bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best` to your configuration file. Note that if you use youtube-dl to stream to `stdout` (and most likely to pipe it to your media player then), i.e. you explicitly specify output template as `-o -`, youtube-dl still uses `-f best` format selection in order to start content delivery immediately to your player and not to wait until `bestvideo` and `bestaudio` are downloaded and muxed.
+
+If you want to preserve the old format selection behavior (prior to youtube-dl 2015.04.26), i.e. you want to download the best available quality media served as a single file, you should explicitly specify your choice with `-f best`. You may want to add it to the [configuration file](#configuration) in order not to type it every time you run youtube-dl.
+
+#### Format selection examples
+
+Note on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
+
+```bash
+# Download best mp4 format available or any other best if no mp4 available
+$ youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best'
+
+# Download best format available but not better that 480p
+$ youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[height<=480]+bestaudio/best[height<=480]'
+
+# Download best video only format but no bigger that 50 MB
+$ youtube-dl -f 'best[filesize<50M]'
+
+# Download best format available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol
+$ youtube-dl -f '(bestvideo+bestaudio/best)[protocol^=http]'
+```
+
+
+# VIDEO SELECTION
+
+Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`. They accept dates in two formats:
+
+ - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
+ - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
+
+Examples:
+
+```bash
+# Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
+$ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
+
+# Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
+$ youtube-dl --date 19700101
+
+$ # Download only the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
+$ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
+```
+
+# FAQ
+
+### How do I update youtube-dl?
+
+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`).
+
+If you have used pip, a simple `sudo pip install -U youtube-dl` is sufficient to update.
+
+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 distribution serves a really outdated version. You can (and should) complain to your distribution in their bugtracker or support forum.
+
+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
+
+ sudo apt-get remove -y youtube-dl
+
+Afterwards, simply follow [our manual installation instructions](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html):
+
+```
+sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+hash -r
+```
+
+Again, from then on you'll be able to update with `sudo youtube-dl -U`.
+
+### youtube-dl is extremely slow to start on Windows
+
+Add a file exclusion for `youtube-dl.exe` in Windows Defender settings.
+
+### I'm getting an error `Unable to extract OpenGraph title` on YouTube playlists
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+### I'm getting an error when trying to use output template: `error: using output template conflicts with using title, video ID or auto number`
+
+Make sure you are not using `-o` with any of these options `-t`, `--title`, `--id`, `-A` or `--auto-number` set in command line or in a configuration file. Remove the latter if any.
+
+### Do I always have to pass `-citw`?
+
+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, the only option out of `-citw` that is regularly useful is `-i`.
+
+### Can you please put the `-b` option back?
+
+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.
Rapsys Git / youtubedl / blobdiff