-NAME
-====
-
youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
SYNOPSIS
youtube-dl OPTIONS URL [URL...]
+INSTALLATION
+============
+
+To install it right away for all UNIX users (Linux, OS X, etc.), type:
+
+ sudo curl https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+ sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+
+If you do not have curl, you can alternatively use a recent wget:
+
+ sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/2014.05.13/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+ sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+
+Windows users can download a .exe file and place it in their home
+directory or any other location on their PATH.
+
+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 .
+
DESCRIPTION
===========
OPTIONS
=======
- -h, --help print this help text 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 maximum download rate (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
- --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
- --referer REF specify a custom referer, use if the video access
- is restricted to one domain
- --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they
- would handle
- --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy
- --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
+ -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
+ --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
+ --referer REF 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
+ --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs
+ they would handle
+ --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
+ extractors
+ --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in
+ an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
+ connection
+ --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
+ --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
+ information about the video. (Currently
+ supported only for YouTube)
+ --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
+ --socket-timeout None Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
+ --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
+ bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
+ or fribidi executable in PATH
+ --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
+ example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
+ from google videos for youtube-dl "large
+ apple". By default (with value "auto")
+ youtube-dl guesses.
+ --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.conf
+ (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt on
+ Windows)
+ --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (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)
- --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 before this date
- --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded after this date
+ --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
+ --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
+ --no-playlist download only the currently playing video
+ --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)
+ --youtube-include-dash-manifest Try to download the DASH manifest on
+ YouTube videos (experimental)
+
+Download Options:
+-----------------
+
+ -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second
+ (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
+ -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.
Filesystem Options:
-------------------
- -t, --title use title in file name (default)
- --id use only video ID in file name
- -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
- -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
- -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, %(upload_date)s for the upload date
- (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
- (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
- , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
- %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
- playlist 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/d
- ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
- --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
- when it is present in output filename template or
- --autonumber option is given
- --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
- --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
- from beginning)
- --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
- --no-part do not use .part files
- --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-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
+ -t, --title use title in file name (default)
+ --id use only video ID in file name
+ -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
+ -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
+ -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)s for the playlist the
+ video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
+ position in the playlist and %% for a
+ literal percent. %(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. Use - to output to stdout. Can also
+ be used to download to a different
+ directory, for example with -o '/my/downloa
+ ds/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
+ --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies 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, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for
+ stdin)
+ --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
+ (created with the "--write-json" option)
+ -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)
+ --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie
+ jar in
+ --no-part do not use .part files
+ --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 .annotation
+ file
+ --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
Verbosity / Simulation Options:
-------------------------------
- -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
- -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-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
- --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
- --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-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
- verbose)
+ -q, --quiet activates 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.
+ --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-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages 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
Video Format Options:
---------------------
- -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specifiy the order of
- preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18"
- --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)
- --write-sub write subtitle file (currently youtube only)
- --only-sub [deprecated] alias of --skip-download
- --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of the
- video (currently youtube only)
- --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
- (currently youtube only)
- --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format [srt/sbv] (default=srt)
- (currently youtube only)
- --sub-lang LANG language of the subtitles to download (optional)
- use IETF language tags like 'en'
+ -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
+ preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18".
+ "-f mp4" and "-f flv" are also supported.
+ You can also use the special names "best",
+ "bestvideo", "bestaudio", "worst",
+ "worstvideo" and "worstaudio". By default,
+ youtube-dl will pick the best quality.
+ --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
+
+Subtitle Options:
+-----------------
+
+ --write-sub write subtitle file
+ --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube
+ only)
+ --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of
+ the video
+ --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
+ --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt]
+ youtube only)
+ --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download
+ (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
+ language tags like 'en,pt'
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
+ --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo, smotri)
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", "opus", 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)
- --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if necessary
- (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
- -k, --keep-video keeps 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
+ -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",
+ "opus", 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)
+ --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
+ necessary (currently supported:
+ mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
+ -k, --keep-video keeps 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
+ videos)
+ --embed-thumbnail embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
+ --add-metadata write metadata to the video file
+ --xattrs write metadata to the video file's xattrs
+ (using dublin core and xdg standards)
+ --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
+ postprocessors (default)
+ --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
+ postprocessors
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 ~/.config/youtube-dl.conf.
+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\<Yourname>\youtube-dl.conf.
OUTPUT TEMPLATE
===============
- playlist_index: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit
number.
-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).
+The current default template is %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s.
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
Examples:
- $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months #will only download the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
- $ youtube-dl --date 19700101 #will only download the videos uploaded in January 1, 1970
- $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20100101 #will only download the videos uploaded between 2000 and 2010
+ # 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
+
+ $ # will only download the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
+ $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
FAQ
===
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
+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.
I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
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
+too much. We're considering to provide a way to let you solve the
CAPTCHA, but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a
webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart
youtube-dl.
To run the exe you need to install first the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008
Redistributable Package.
-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.
+DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS
+======================
+
+Most users do not need to build youtube-dl and can download the builds
+or get them from their distribution.
+
+To run youtube-dl as a developer, you don't need to build anything
+either. Simply execute
+
+ python -m youtube_dl
+
+To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a
+test file directly; any of the following work:
+
+ python -m unittest discover
+ python test/test_download.py
+ nosetests
+
+If you want to create a build of youtube-dl yourself, you'll need
+
+- python
+- make
+- pandoc
+- zip
+- nosetests
+
+Adding support for a new site
+
+If you want to add support for a new site, you can follow this quick
+list (assuming your service is called yourextractor):
+
+1. Fork this repository
+2. Check out the source code with
+ git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/youtube-dl.git
+3. Start a new git branch with
+ cd youtube-dl; git checkout -b yourextractor
+4. Start with this simple template and save it to
+ youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py:
+
+ # coding: utf-8
+ from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+ import re
+
+ from .common import InfoExtractor
+
+
+ class YourExtractorIE(InfoExtractor):
+ _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?yourextractor\.com/watch/(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
+ _TEST = {
+ 'url': 'http://yourextractor.com/watch/42',
+ 'md5': 'TODO: md5 sum of the first 10KiB of the video file',
+ 'info_dict': {
+ 'id': '42',
+ 'ext': 'mp4',
+ 'title': 'Video title goes here',
+ # TODO more properties, either as:
+ # * A value
+ # * MD5 checksum; start the string with md5:
+ # * A regular expression; start the string with re:
+ # * Any Python type (for example int or float)
+ }
+ }
+
+ def _real_extract(self, url):
+ mobj = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
+ video_id = mobj.group('id')
+
+ # TODO more code goes here, for example ...
+ webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
+ title = self._html_search_regex(r'<h1>(.*?)</h1>', webpage, 'title')
+
+ return {
+ 'id': video_id,
+ 'title': title,
+ # TODO more properties (see youtube_dl/extractor/common.py)
+ }
+
+5. Add an import in youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py.
+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.
+7. Have a look at youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py for possible
+ helper methods and a detailed description of what your extractor
+ should return. Add tests and code for as many as you want.
+8. If you can, check the code with pyflakes (a good idea) and pep8
+ (optional, ignore E501).
+9. When the tests pass, add the new files and commit them and push the
+ result, like this:
+
+ $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
+ $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py
+ $ git commit -m '[yourextractor] Add new extractor'
+ $ git push origin yourextractor
+
+10. Finally, create a pull request. We'll then review and merge it.
+
+In any case, thank you very much for your contributions!
BUGS
====
Bugs and suggestions should be reported at:
-https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues
+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.
-Please include:
-
-- 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.
-- If possible re-run the command with --verbose, and include the full
- output, it is really helpful to us.
-- 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).
+Please include the full output of the command when run with --verbose.
+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.
For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
+
+When you submit a request, please re-read it once to avoid a couple of
+mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist):
+
+Is the description of the issue itself sufficient?
+
+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.
+
+So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you
+want to be fixed. Make sure that it's obvious
+
+- What the problem is
+- How it could be fixed
+- How your proposed solution would look like
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Are you using the latest version?
+
+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.
+
+Is the issue already documented?
+
+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.
+
+Why are existing options not enough?
+
+Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at the list of
+supported options. 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.
+
+Is there enough context in your bug report?
+
+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).
+
+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.
+
+Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only?
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Is anyone going to need the feature?
+
+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.
+
+Is your question about youtube-dl?
+
+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.
+
+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.
Rapsys Git / youtubedl / blobdiff