YT-DLP Commands Reference

Complete reference of all available commands and options for YT-DLP. Use these commands to customize your video downloads.

Official Documentation

Print help text--help

Print this help text and exit

Type:boolean

Print program version--version

Print program version and exit

Type:boolean

Update to latest version--update

Update this program to the latest version

Type:boolean

Ignore errors--ignore-errors

Continue on download errors

Type:boolean

Abort on error--abort-on-error

Abort downloading of further videos if an error occurs

Type:boolean

Display user agent--dump-user-agent

Display the current user-agent and exit

Type:boolean

List all extractors--list-extractors

List all supported extractors and exit

Type:boolean

Output extractor descriptions--extractor-descriptions

Output descriptions of all supported extractors and exit

Type:boolean

Force generic extractor--force-generic-extractor

Force extraction to use the generic extractor

Type:boolean

Default search prefix--default-search

Use this prefix for unqualified URLs

Type:string

Example:--default-search ytsearch

Ignore configuration files--ignore-config

Don't load any configuration files

Type:boolean

Configuration file path--config-location

Location of the configuration file

Type:string

Example:--config-location ~/.config/yt-dlp.conf

Do not extract playlist videos--flat-playlist

Do not extract the videos of a playlist, only list them

Type:boolean

Extract playlist videos--no-flat-playlist

Extract the videos of a playlist

Type:boolean

Mark videos as watched--mark-watched

Mark videos as watched (YouTube only)

Type:boolean

Do not mark as watched--no-mark-watched

Do not mark videos as watched

Type:boolean

Disable colored output--no-colors

Do not emit color codes in output

Type:boolean

Do not check for updates--no-update

Do not check for updates (default)

Type:boolean

Upgrade/downgrade to specific version--update-to

Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version. CHANNEL can be a repository as well

Type:string

Extractor names to use--use-extractors

Extractor names to use separated by commas. You can also use regexes

Type:string

Example:--use-extractors holodex.*,end,youtube

Download livestreams from start--live-from-start

Download livestreams from the start. Currently only supported for YouTube (Experimental)

Type:boolean

Download livestreams from current time--no-live-from-start

Download livestreams from the current time (default)

Type:boolean

Wait for scheduled streams--wait-for-video

Wait for scheduled streams to become available

Type:string

Example:--wait-for-video 60-120

Do not wait for scheduled streams--no-wait-for-video

Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)

Type:boolean

Color output policy--color

Whether to emit color codes in output

Type:string

Example:--color auto

Compatibility options--compat-options

Options that can help keep compatibility with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc configurations

Type:string

Create option aliases--alias

Create aliases for an option string

Type:string

Example:--alias get-audio,-X "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"

Plugin directories--plugin-dirs

Path to an additional directory to search for plugins

Type:string

Example:--plugin-dirs default

Clear plugin directories--no-plugin-dirs

Clear plugin directories to search, including defaults

Type:boolean