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[![Build Status ](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/workflows/CI/badge.svg )](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/actions?query=workflow%3ACI)
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youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
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- [INSTALLATION ](#installation )
- [DESCRIPTION ](#description )
- [OPTIONS ](#options )
- [CONFIGURATION ](#configuration )
- [OUTPUT TEMPLATE ](#output-template )
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- [FORMAT SELECTION ](#format-selection )
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- [VIDEO SELECTION ](#video-selection )
- [FAQ ](#faq )
- [DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS ](#developer-instructions )
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- [EMBEDDING YOUTUBE-DL ](#embedding-youtube-dl )
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- [BUGS ](#bugs )
- [COPYRIGHT ](#copyright )
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# INSTALLATION
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To install it right away for all UNIX users (Linux, macOS, etc.), type:
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sudo curl -L https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
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sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
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If you do not have curl, you can alternatively use a recent wget:
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sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
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sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
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Windows users can [download an .exe file ](https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe ) and place it in any location on their [PATH ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_%28variable%29 ) except for `%SYSTEMROOT%\System32` (e.g. **do not** put in `C:\Windows\System32` ).
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You can also use pip:
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sudo -H pip install --upgrade youtube-dl
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This command will update youtube-dl if you have already installed it. See the [pypi page ](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/youtube_dl ) for more information.
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macOS users can install youtube-dl with [Homebrew ](https://brew.sh/ ):
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brew install youtube-dl
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Or with [MacPorts ](https://www.macports.org/ ):
sudo port install youtube-dl
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Alternatively, refer to the [developer instructions ](#developer-instructions ) for how to check out and work with the git repository. For further options, including PGP signatures, see the [youtube-dl Download Page ](https://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html ).
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# DESCRIPTION
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**youtube-dl** is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
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youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
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# OPTIONS
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-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)
--config-location PATH Location of the configuration file;
either the path to the config or its
containing directory.
--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
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## Network Options:
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--proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS
proxy. To enable 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
-4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
-6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
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## Geo Restriction:
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--geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address
for some geo-restricted sites. The
default proxy specified by --proxy (or
none, if the option is not present) is
used for the actual downloading.
--geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via
faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
--no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction
via faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
--geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction
with explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-2 country code
--geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction
with explicitly provided IP block in
CIDR notation
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## Video Selection:
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--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. Specify any key
(see the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" 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, key = 'LITERAL' (like "uploader
= 'Mike Smith'", also works with !=) to
match against a string literal 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)
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## Download Options:
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-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,
hlsnative and ISM)
--skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments (DASH,
hlsnative and ISM)
--abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading when some fragment is
not available
--keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
downloading is finished; fragments are
erased by default
--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.
--http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M)
(default is disabled). May be useful
for bypassing bandwidth throttling
imposed by a webserver (experimental)
--playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse
order
--playlist-random Download playlist videos in random
order
--xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
expected file size
--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,c
url,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
--external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
downloader
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## Filesystem Options:
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-a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-'
for stdin), one URL per line. Lines
starting with '#', ';' or ']' are
considered as comments and ignored.
--id Use only video ID in file name
-o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see the
"OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for all the info
--output-na-placeholder PLACEHOLDER Placeholder value for unavailable meta
fields in output filename template
(default is "NA")
--autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for
%(autonumber)s (default is 1)
--restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
characters, and avoid "& " and spaces in
filenames
-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
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## Thumbnail Options:
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--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
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## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
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-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 the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
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
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## Workarounds:
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--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 when used alone or a lower
bound of a range for randomized sleep
before each download (minimum possible
number of seconds to sleep) when used
along with --max-sleep-interval.
--max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized
sleep before each download (maximum
possible number of seconds to sleep).
Must only be used along with --min-
sleep-interval.
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## Video Format Options:
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-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
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## Subtitle Options:
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--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
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## Authentication Options:
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-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 authentication code
-n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
--video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
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## Adobe Pass Options:
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--ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso
for a list of available MSOs
--ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
--ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account
password. If this option is left out,
youtube-dl will ask interactively.
--ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
operators
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## Post-processing Options:
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-x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
(requires ffmpeg/avconv and
ffprobe/avprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
"flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis",
or "wav"; "best" by default; No effect
without -x
--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. Regular expression with named
capture groups may also be used. The
parsed parameters replace existing
values. Example: --metadata-from-title
"%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
title like "Coldplay - Paradise".
Example (regex): --metadata-from-title
"(?P< artist > .+?) - (?P< title > .+)"
--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
--prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running
the postprocessors (default)
--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 and post-processing,
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|lrc)
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# CONFIGURATION
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You can configure youtube-dl by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux and macOS, 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` . Note that by default configuration file may not exist so you may need to create it yourself.
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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:
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```
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# Lines starting with # are comments
# Always extract audio
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-x
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# Do not copy the mtime
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--no-mtime
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# Use this proxy
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--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
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# Save all videos under Movies directory in your home directory
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-o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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```
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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` .
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You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dl run.
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You can also use `--config-location` if you want to use custom configuration file for a particular youtube-dl run.
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### Authentication with `.netrc` file
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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 ](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info ) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in your `$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
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```
touch $HOME/.netrc
chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
```
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After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
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```
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
```
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To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to youtube-dl or place it in the [configuration file ](#configuration ).
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On Windows you may also need to setup the `%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
```
set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
```
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# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
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The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples ](#output-template-examples ).
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The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` . However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [python string formatting operations ](https://docs.python.org/2/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting ). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d` . To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations. Allowed names along with sequence type are:
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- `id` (string): Video identifier
- `title` (string): Video title
- `url` (string): Video URL
- `ext` (string): Video filename extension
- `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
- `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
- `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
- `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
- `creator` (string): The creator of the video
- `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
- `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
- `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
- `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
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- `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
- `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
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- `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
- `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
- `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
- `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
- `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
- `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
- `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
- `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
- `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
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- `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
- `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
- `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
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- `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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- `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
- `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
- `width` (numeric): Width of the video
- `height` (numeric): Height of the video
- `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
- `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
- `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
- `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
- `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
- `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
- `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
- `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
- `container` (string): Name of the container format
- `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
- `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
- `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
- `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
- `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
- `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
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- `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
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- `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
- `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
- `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
- `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
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- `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
- `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
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Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
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- `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
- `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
- `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
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Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
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- `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
- `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
- `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
- `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
- `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
- `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
- `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
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Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
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- `track` (string): Title of the track
- `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
- `track_id` (string): Id of the track
- `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
- `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
- `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
- `album_type` (string): Type of the album
- `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
- `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
- `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
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Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an 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 a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
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For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an 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.
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For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042` .
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Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s'` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
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To use percent literals in an output template use `%%` . To output to stdout use `-o -` .
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The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` .
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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.
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#### Output template and Windows batch files
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If you are using an 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"` .
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#### Output template examples
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Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
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```bash
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$ youtube-dl --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
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youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐 .mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
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$ youtube-dl --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
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youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
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# 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
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# 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
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# 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
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$ youtube-dl -o "C:/MyVideos/%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
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# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
$ youtube-dl -o - BaW_jenozKc
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```
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# FORMAT SELECTION
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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** .
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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.
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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.
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**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples ](#format-selection-examples ).
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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.
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You can also use a file extension (currently `3gp` , `aac` , `flv` , `m4a` , `mp3` , `mp4` , `ogg` , `wav` , `webm` are supported) to download the best quality format of a particular file extension served as a single file, e.g. `-f webm` will download the best quality format with the `webm` extension served as a single file.
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You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
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- `best` : Select the best quality format represented by a single file with video and audio.
- `worst` : Select the worst quality format represented by a single file with video and audio.
- `bestvideo` : Select the best quality video-only format (e.g. DASH video). May not be available.
- `worstvideo` : Select the worst quality video-only format. May not be available.
- `bestaudio` : Select the best quality audio only-format. May not be available.
- `worstaudio` : Select the worst quality audio only-format. May not be available.
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For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo` .
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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.
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If you want to download several formats of the same video use a comma as a separator, e.g. `-f 22,17,18` will download all these three formats, of course if they are available. Or a more sophisticated example combined with the precedence feature: `-f 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio` .
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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):
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- `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
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Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
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- `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
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- `protocol` : The protocol that will be used for the actual download, lower-case (`http`, `https` , `rtsp` , `rtmp` , `rtmpe` , `mms` , `f4m` , `ism` , `http_dash_segments` , `m3u8` , or `m3u8_native` )
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- `format_id` : A short description of the format
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- `language` : Language code
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Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
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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 the video hoster.
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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.
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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 the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg/avconv.
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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]'` .
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Since the end of April 2015 and version 2015.04.26, youtube-dl uses `-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best` as the default format selection (see [#5447 ](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/5447 ), [#5456 ](https://github.com/ytdl-org/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.
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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.
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#### Format selection examples
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Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
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```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'
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# Download best format available but no better than 480p
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$ youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[height< =480]+bestaudio/best[height< =480]'
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# Download best video only format but no bigger than 50 MB
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$ youtube-dl -f 'best[filesize< 50M ] '
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# Download best format available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol
$ youtube-dl -f '(bestvideo+bestaudio/best)[protocol^=http]'
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# Download the best video format and the best audio format without merging them
$ youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo,bestaudio' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
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```
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Note that in the last example, an output template is recommended as bestvideo and bestaudio may have the same file name.
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# VIDEO SELECTION
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Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date` , `--datebefore` or `--dateafter` . They accept dates in two formats:
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- Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD` .
- Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
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Examples:
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```bash
# Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
$ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
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# Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
$ youtube-dl --date 19700101
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$ # Download only the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
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$ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
```
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# FAQ
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### How do I update youtube-dl?
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If you've followed [our manual installation instructions ](https://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html ), you can simply run `youtube-dl -U` (or, on Linux, `sudo youtube-dl -U` ).
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If you have used pip, a simple `sudo pip install -U youtube-dl` is sufficient to update.
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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 https://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.
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