.TH "YOUTUBE\-DL" "1" "" "" "" .SH NAME .PP youtube\-dl \- download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms .SH SYNOPSIS .PP \f[B]youtube\-dl\f[] [OPTIONS] URL [URL...] .SH DESCRIPTION .PP \f[B]youtube\-dl\f[] is a small 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 Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like. .SH OPTIONS .IP .nf \f[C] \-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\ and\ the\ URLs\ they\ would\ handle \-\-extractor\-descriptions\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Output\ descriptions\ of\ all\ supported\ extractors \-\-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. \-\-no\-color\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Do\ not\ emit\ color\ codes\ in\ output. \f[] .fi .SS Network Options: .IP .nf \f[C] \-\-proxy\ URL\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Use\ the\ specified\ HTTP/HTTPS\ proxy.\ 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) \f[] .fi .SS Video Selection: .IP .nf \f[C] \-\-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\ seperated\ 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\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ (Experimental)\ Generic\ video\ filter.\ 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\ 10M]"). \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ This\ works\ for\ filesize,\ height,\ width,\ tbr,\ abr,\ vbr,\ asr,\ and\ fps\ and\ the\ comparisons\ <,\ <=,\ >,\ >=,\ =,\ !=\ and\ for\ ext,\ acodec, \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ vcodec,\ container,\ and\ protocol\ and\ the\ comparisons\ =,\ !=\ .\ 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.\ By\ default,\ youtube\-dl\ will\ pick\ the\ best\ quality. \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Use\ commas\ to\ download\ multiple\ audio\ formats,\ such\ as\ \-f\ \ 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio.\ You\ can\ merge\ the\ video\ and\ audio \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ of\ two\ formats\ into\ a\ single\ file\ using\ \-f\ +\ (requires\ ffmpeg\ or\ avconv),\ for\ example\ \-f \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ bestvideo+bestaudio. \-\-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 \-\-youtube\-skip\-dash\-manifest\ \ \ \ \ Do\ not\ download\ the\ DASH\ manifest\ 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 \f[] .fi .SS Subtitle Options: .IP .nf \f[C] \-\-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,\ accepts\ formats\ preference,\ for\ example:\ "ass/srt/best" \-\-sub\-lang\ LANGS\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ languages\ of\ the\ subtitles\ to\ download\ (optional)\ separated\ by\ commas,\ use\ IETF\ language\ tags\ like\ \[aq]en,pt\[aq] \f[] .fi .SS Authentication Options: .IP .nf \f[C] \-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) \f[] .fi .SS Post\-processing Options: .IP .nf \f[C] \-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|mkv) \-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\[aq]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\[aq]s\ \-exec\ syntax.\ Example:\ \-\-exec\ \[aq]adb\ push\ {}\ /sdcard/Music/\ &&\ rm \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ {}\[aq] \-\-convert\-subtitles\ FORMAT\ \ \ \ \ \ \ Convert\ the\ subtitles\ to\ other\ format\ (currently\ supported:\ srt|ass|vtt) \f[] .fi .SH CONFIGURATION .PP You can configure youtube\-dl by placing default arguments (such as \f[C]\-\-extract\-audio\ \-\-no\-mtime\f[] to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into \f[C]/etc/youtube\-dl.conf\f[] and/or \f[C]~/.config/youtube\-dl/config\f[]. On Windows, the configuration file locations are \f[C]%APPDATA%\\youtube\-dl\\config.txt\f[] and \f[C]C:\\Users\\\\youtube\-dl.conf\f[]. .SH OUTPUT TEMPLATE .PP The \f[C]\-o\f[] option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in \f[C]youtube\-dl\ \-o\ funny_video.flv\ "http://some/video"\f[]. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format \f[C]%(NAME)s\f[]. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are: .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]id\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]url\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]uploader\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]upload_date\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]title\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the video title. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]ext\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4). .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]epoch\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]autonumber\f[]: The sequence will be replaced by a five\-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]playlist\f[]: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[C]playlist_index\f[]: The index of the video in the playlist, a five\-digit number. .PP The current default template is \f[C]%(title)s\-%(id)s.%(ext)s\f[]. .PP In some cases, you don\[aq]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 \f[C]\-\-restrict\-filenames\f[] flag to get a shorter title: .IP .nf \f[C] $\ youtube\-dl\ \-\-get\-filename\ \-o\ "%(title)s.%(ext)s"\ BaW_jenozKc youtube\-dl\ test\ video\ \[aq]\[aq]_ä↭𝕐.mp4\ \ \ \ #\ All\ kinds\ of\ weird\ characters $\ youtube\-dl\ \-\-get\-filename\ \-o\ "%(title)s.%(ext)s"\ BaW_jenozKc\ \-\-restrict\-filenames youtube\-dl_test_video_.mp4\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ #\ A\ simple\ file\ name \f[] .fi .SH VIDEO SELECTION .PP Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options \f[C]\-\-date\f[], \f[C]\-\-datebefore\f[] or \f[C]\-\-dateafter\f[], they accept dates in two formats: .IP \[bu] 2 Absolute dates: Dates in the format \f[C]YYYYMMDD\f[]. .IP \[bu] 2 Relative dates: Dates in the format \f[C](now|today)[+\-][0\-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?\f[] .PP Examples: .IP .nf \f[C] #\ 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 \f[] .fi .SH FAQ .SS How do I update youtube\-dl? .PP If you\[aq]ve followed our manual installation instructions (http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html), you can simply run \f[C]youtube\-dl\ \-U\f[] (or, on Linux, \f[C]sudo\ youtube\-dl\ \-U\f[]). .PP If you have used pip, a simple \f[C]sudo\ pip\ install\ \-U\ youtube\-dl\f[] is sufficient to update. .PP If you have installed youtube\-dl using a package manager like \f[I]apt\-get\f[] or \f[I]yum\f[], 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 distributions serves a really outdated version. You can (and should) complain to your distribution in their bugtracker or support forum. .PP 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\[aq]s package, with a line like .IP .nf \f[C] sudo\ apt\-get\ remove\ \-y\ youtube\-dl \f[] .fi .PP Afterwards, simply follow our manual installation instructions (http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html): .IP .nf \f[C] 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 \f[] .fi .PP Again, from then on you\[aq]ll be able to update with \f[C]sudo\ youtube\-dl\ \-U\f[]. .SS I\[aq]m getting an error \f[C]Unable\ to\ extract\ OpenGraph\ title\f[] on YouTube playlists .PP YouTube changed their playlist format in March 2014 and later on, so you\[aq]ll need at least youtube\-dl 2014.07.25 to download all YouTube videos. .PP 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. .SS Do I always have to pass in \f[C]\-\-max\-quality\ FORMAT\f[], or \f[C]\-citw\f[]? .PP 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, \f[C]\-\-max\-quality\f[] \f[I]limits\f[] the video quality (so if you want the best quality, do NOT pass it in), and the only option out of \f[C]\-citw\f[] that is regularly useful is \f[C]\-i\f[]. .SS Can you please put the \-b option back? .PP 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 \f[C]\-b\f[] option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you\[aq]re interested in. In that case, simply request it with the \f[C]\-f\f[] option and youtube\-dl will try to download it. .SS I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What\[aq]s this? .PP Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We\[aq]re considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube\-dl. .SS I have downloaded a video but how can I play it? .PP Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as vlc (http://www.videolan.org) or mplayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/). .SS I extracted a video URL with \-g, but it does not play on another machine / in my webbrowser. .PP It depends a lot on the service. In many cases, requests for the video (to download/play it) must come from the same IP address and with the same cookies. Use the \f[C]\-\-cookies\f[] option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use \f[C]\-\-dump\-user\-agent\f[] to see the one in use by youtube\-dl. .PP It may be beneficial to use IPv6; in some cases, the restrictions are only applied to IPv4. Some services (sometimes only for a subset of videos) do not restrict the video URL by IP address, cookie, or user\-agent, but these are the exception rather than the rule. .PP Please bear in mind that some URL protocols are \f[B]not\f[] supported by browsers out of the box, including RTMP. If you are using \-g, your own downloader must support these as well. .PP If you want to play the video on a machine that is not running youtube\-dl, you can relay the video content from the machine that runs youtube\-dl. You can use \f[C]\-o\ \-\f[] to let youtube\-dl stream a video to stdout, or simply allow the player to download the files written by youtube\-dl in turn. .SS ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info .PP YouTube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube\-dl. See above (#how-do-i-update-youtube-dl) for how to update youtube\-dl. .SS ERROR: unable to download video .PP YouTube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube\-dl. See above (#how-do-i-update-youtube-dl) for how to update youtube\-dl. .SS ExtractorError: Could not find JS function u\[aq]OF\[aq] .PP In February 2015, the new YouTube player contained a character sequence in a string that was misinterpreted by old versions of youtube\-dl. See above (#how-do-i-update-youtube-dl) for how to update youtube\-dl. .SS HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests or 402: Payment Required .PP These two error codes indicate that the service is blocking your IP address because of overuse. Contact the service and ask them to unblock your IP address, or \- if you have acquired a whitelisted IP address already \- use the \f[C]\-\-proxy\f[] or \f[C]\-\-network\-address\f[] options (#network-options) to select another IP address. .SS SyntaxError: Non\-ASCII character .PP The error .IP .nf \f[C] File\ "youtube\-dl",\ line\ 2 SyntaxError:\ Non\-ASCII\ character\ \[aq]\\x93\[aq]\ ... \f[] .fi .PP means you\[aq]re using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7. .SS What is this binary file? Where has the code gone? .PP Since June 2012 (#342) youtube\-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to \f[C]youtube\-dl.zip\f[] first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the \f[C]__main__.py\f[] file. To recompile the executable, run \f[C]make\ youtube\-dl\f[]. .SS The exe throws a \f[I]Runtime error from Visual C++\f[] .PP To run the exe you need to install first the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29). .SS On Windows, how should I set up ffmpeg and youtube\-dl? Where should I put the exe files? .PP If you put youtube\-dl and ffmpeg in the same directory that you\[aq]re running the command from, it will work, but that\[aq]s rather cumbersome. .PP To make a different directory work \- either for ffmpeg, or for youtube\-dl, or for both \- simply create the directory (say, \f[C]C:\\bin\f[], or \f[C]C:\\Users\\\\bin\f[]), put all the executables directly in there, and then set your PATH environment variable (https://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.xml) to include that directory. .PP From then on, after restarting your shell, you will be able to access both youtube\-dl and ffmpeg (and youtube\-dl will be able to find ffmpeg) by simply typing \f[C]youtube\-dl\f[] or \f[C]ffmpeg\f[], no matter what directory you\[aq]re in. .SS How do I put downloads into a specific folder? .PP Use the \f[C]\-o\f[] to specify an output template (#output-template), for example \f[C]\-o\ "/home/user/videos/%(title)s\-%(id)s.%(ext)s"\f[]. If you want this for all of your downloads, put the option into your configuration file (#configuration). .SS How do I download a video starting with a \f[C]\-\f[] ? .PP Either prepend \f[C]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\f[] or separate the ID from the options with \f[C]\-\-\f[]: .IP .nf \f[C] youtube\-dl\ \-\-\ \-wNyEUrxzFU youtube\-dl\ "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\-wNyEUrxzFU" \f[] .fi .SS Can you add support for this anime video site, or site which shows current movies for free? .PP As a matter of policy (as well as legality), youtube\-dl does not include support for services that specialize in infringing copyright. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot easily find a video that the service is quite obviously allowed to distribute (i.e. that has been uploaded by the creator, the creator\[aq]s distributor, or is published under a free license), the service is probably unfit for inclusion to youtube\-dl. .PP A note on the service that they don\[aq]t host the infringing content, but just link to those who do, is evidence that the service should \f[B]not\f[] be included into youtube\-dl. The same goes for any DMCA note when the whole front page of the service is filled with videos they are not allowed to distribute. A "fair use" note is equally unconvincing if the service shows copyright\-protected videos in full without authorization. .PP Support requests for services that \f[B]do\f[] purchase the rights to distribute their content are perfectly fine though. If in doubt, you can simply include a source that mentions the legitimate purchase of content. .SS How can I speed up work on my issue? .PP (Also known as: Help, my important issue not being solved!) The youtube\-dl core developer team is quite small. While we do our best to solve as many issues as possible, sometimes that can take quite a while. To speed up your issue, here\[aq]s what you can do: .PP First of all, please do report the issue at our issue tracker (https://yt-dl.org/bugs). That allows us to coordinate all efforts by users and developers, and serves as a unified point. Unfortunately, the youtube\-dl project has grown too large to use personal email as an effective communication channel. .PP Please read the bug reporting instructions (#bugs) below. A lot of bugs lack all the necessary information. If you can, offer proxy, VPN, or shell access to the youtube\-dl developers. If you are able to, test the issue from multiple computers in multiple countries to exclude local censorship or misconfiguration issues. .PP If nobody is interested in solving your issue, you are welcome to take matters into your own hands and submit a pull request (or coerce/pay somebody else to do so). .PP Feel free to bump the issue from time to time by writing a small comment ("Issue is still present in youtube\-dl version ...from France, but fixed from Belgium"), but please not more than once a month. Please do not declare your issue as \f[C]important\f[] or \f[C]urgent\f[]. .SS How can I detect whether a given URL is supported by youtube\-dl? .PP For one, have a look at the list of supported sites (docs/supportedsites.md). Note that it can sometimes happen that the site changes its URL scheme (say, from http://example.com/video/1234567 to http://example.com/v/1234567 ) and youtube\-dl reports an URL of a service in that list as unsupported. In that case, simply report a bug. .PP It is \f[I]not\f[] possible to detect whether a URL is supported or not. That\[aq]s because youtube\-dl contains a generic extractor which matches \f[B]all\f[] URLs. You may be tempted to disable, exclude, or remove the generic extractor, but the generic extractor not only allows users to extract videos from lots of websites that embed a video from another service, but may also be used to extract video from a service that it\[aq]s hosting itself. Therefore, we neither recommend nor support disabling, excluding, or removing the generic extractor. .PP If you want to find out whether a given URL is supported, simply call youtube\-dl with it. If you get no videos back, chances are the URL is either not referring to a video or unsupported. You can find out which by examining the output (if you run youtube\-dl on the console) or catching an \f[C]UnsupportedError\f[] exception if you run it from a Python program. .SH DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS .PP Most users do not need to build youtube\-dl and can download the builds (http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html) or get them from their distribution. .PP To run youtube\-dl as a developer, you don\[aq]t need to build anything either. Simply execute .IP .nf \f[C] python\ \-m\ youtube_dl \f[] .fi .PP To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a test file directly; any of the following work: .IP .nf \f[C] python\ \-m\ unittest\ discover python\ test/test_download.py nosetests \f[] .fi .PP If you want to create a build of youtube\-dl yourself, you\[aq]ll need .IP \[bu] 2 python .IP \[bu] 2 make .IP \[bu] 2 pandoc .IP \[bu] 2 zip .IP \[bu] 2 nosetests .SS Adding support for a new site .PP If you want to add support for a new site, you can follow this quick list (assuming your service is called \f[C]yourextractor\f[]): .IP " 1." 4 Fork this repository (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/fork) .IP " 2." 4 Check out the source code with \f[C]git\ clone\ git\@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/youtube\-dl.git\f[] .IP " 3." 4 Start a new git branch with \f[C]cd\ youtube\-dl;\ git\ checkout\ \-b\ yourextractor\f[] .IP " 4." 4 Start with this simple template and save it to \f[C]youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py\f[]: .RS 4 .IP .nf \f[C] #\ coding:\ utf\-8 from\ __future__\ import\ unicode_literals from\ .common\ import\ InfoExtractor class\ YourExtractorIE(InfoExtractor): \ \ \ \ _VALID_URL\ =\ r\[aq]https?://(?:www\\.)?yourextractor\\.com/watch/(?P[0\-9]+)\[aq] \ \ \ \ _TEST\ =\ { \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]url\[aq]:\ \[aq]http://yourextractor.com/watch/42\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]md5\[aq]:\ \[aq]TODO:\ md5\ sum\ of\ the\ first\ 10241\ bytes\ of\ the\ video\ file\ (use\ \-\-test)\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]info_dict\[aq]:\ { \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]id\[aq]:\ \[aq]42\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]ext\[aq]:\ \[aq]mp4\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]title\[aq]:\ \[aq]Video\ title\ goes\ here\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]thumbnail\[aq]:\ \[aq]re:^https?://.*\\.jpg$\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ #\ 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): \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ video_id\ =\ self._match_id(url) \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ webpage\ =\ self._download_webpage(url,\ video_id) \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ #\ TODO\ more\ code\ goes\ here,\ for\ example\ ... \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ title\ =\ self._html_search_regex(r\[aq]

(.*?)

\[aq],\ webpage,\ \[aq]title\[aq]) \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ return\ { \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]id\[aq]:\ video_id, \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]title\[aq]:\ title, \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]description\[aq]:\ self._og_search_description(webpage), \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ #\ TODO\ more\ properties\ (see\ youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ } \f[] .fi .RE .IP " 5." 4 Add an import in \f[C]youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py\f[] (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py). .IP " 6." 4 Run \f[C]python\ test/test_download.py\ TestDownload.test_YourExtractor\f[]. This \f[I]should fail\f[] at first, but you can continually re\-run it until you\[aq]re done. If you decide to add more than one test, then rename \f[C]_TEST\f[] to \f[C]_TESTS\f[] and make it into a list of dictionaries. The tests will be then be named \f[C]TestDownload.test_YourExtractor\f[], \f[C]TestDownload.test_YourExtractor_1\f[], \f[C]TestDownload.test_YourExtractor_2\f[], etc. .IP " 7." 4 Have a look at \f[C]youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py\f[] (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a detailed description of what your extractor should return (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L38). Add tests and code for as many as you want. .IP " 8." 4 If you can, check the code with flake8 (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flake8). .IP " 9." 4 When the tests pass, add (http://git-scm.com/docs/git-add) the new files and commit (http://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit) them and push (http://git-scm.com/docs/git-push) the result, like this: .RS 4 .IP .nf \f[C] $\ git\ add\ youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py $\ git\ add\ youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py $\ git\ commit\ \-m\ \[aq][yourextractor]\ Add\ new\ extractor\[aq] $\ git\ push\ origin\ yourextractor \f[] .fi .RE .IP "10." 4 Finally, create a pull request (https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request). We\[aq]ll then review and merge it. .PP In any case, thank you very much for your contributions! .SH EMBEDDING YOUTUBE\-DL .PP youtube\-dl makes the best effort to be a good command\-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language. If you encounter any problems parsing its output, feel free to create a report (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/new). .PP From a Python program, you can embed youtube\-dl in a more powerful fashion, like this: .IP .nf \f[C] import\ youtube_dl ydl_opts\ =\ {} with\ youtube_dl.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts)\ as\ ydl: \ \ \ \ ydl.download([\[aq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc\[aq]]) \f[] .fi .PP Most likely, you\[aq]ll want to use various options. For a list of what can be done, have a look at youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py#L69). For a start, if you want to intercept youtube\-dl\[aq]s output, set a \f[C]logger\f[] object. .PP Here\[aq]s a more complete example of a program that outputs only errors (and a short message after the download is finished), and downloads/converts the video to an mp3 file: .IP .nf \f[C] import\ youtube_dl class\ MyLogger(object): \ \ \ \ def\ debug(self,\ msg): \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ pass \ \ \ \ def\ warning(self,\ msg): \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ pass \ \ \ \ def\ error(self,\ msg): \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ print(msg) def\ my_hook(d): \ \ \ \ if\ d[\[aq]status\[aq]]\ ==\ \[aq]finished\[aq]: \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ print(\[aq]Done\ downloading,\ now\ converting\ ...\[aq]) ydl_opts\ =\ { \ \ \ \ \[aq]format\[aq]:\ \[aq]bestaudio/best\[aq], \ \ \ \ \[aq]postprocessors\[aq]:\ [{ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]key\[aq]:\ \[aq]FFmpegExtractAudio\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]preferredcodec\[aq]:\ \[aq]mp3\[aq], \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \[aq]preferredquality\[aq]:\ \[aq]192\[aq], \ \ \ \ }], \ \ \ \ \[aq]logger\[aq]:\ MyLogger(), \ \ \ \ \[aq]progress_hooks\[aq]:\ [my_hook], } with\ youtube_dl.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts)\ as\ ydl: \ \ \ \ ydl.download([\[aq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc\[aq]]) \f[] .fi .SH BUGS .PP Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: . 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. For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube\-dl on freenode. .PP \f[B]Please include the full output of youtube\-dl when run with \f[C]\-v\f[]\f[]. .PP 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. .PP Please re\-read your issue once again to avoid a couple of common mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist): .SS Is the description of the issue itself sufficient? .PP 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. .PP So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you want to be fixed. Make sure that it\[aq]s obvious .IP \[bu] 2 What the problem is .IP \[bu] 2 How it could be fixed .IP \[bu] 2 How your proposed solution would look like .PP 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\[aq]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. .PP For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the \f[I]complete\f[] 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. .PP If your server has multiple IPs or you suspect censorship, adding \-\-call\-home may be a good idea to get more diagnostics. If the error is \f[C]ERROR:\ Unable\ to\ extract\ ...\f[] and you cannot reproduce it from multiple countries, add \f[C]\-\-dump\-pages\f[] (warning: this will yield a rather large output, redirect it to the file \f[C]log.txt\f[] by adding \f[C]>log.txt\ 2>&1\f[] to your command\-line) or upload the \f[C]\&.dump\f[] files you get when you add \f[C]\-\-write\-pages\f[] somewhere (https://gist.github.com/). .PP \f[B]Site support requests must contain an example URL\f[]. 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 \f[I]not\f[] an example URL. .SS Are you using the latest version? .PP Before reporting any issue, type youtube\-dl \-U. This should report that you\[aq]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. .SS Is the issue already documented? .PP Make sure that someone has not already opened the issue you\[aq]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. .SS Why are existing options not enough? .PP Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at the list of supported options (https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#synopsis). 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 \f[I]not\f[] solve your problem. .SS Is there enough context in your bug report? .PP 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). .PP 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. .SS Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only? .PP 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. .PP 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\[aq]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. .SS Is anyone going to need the feature? .PP Only post features that you (or an incapacitated 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. .SS Is your question about youtube\-dl? .PP 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\[aq]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. .SH COPYRIGHT .PP youtube\-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders. .PP This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton () and is likewise released into the public domain.