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yt-dlp supports a plugin system that allows you to extend its functionality by adding custom extractors and postprocessors without modifying the core codebase.

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Plugin Structure

Plugins are installed in a yt_dlp_plugins namespace package. The plugin system searches for these packages in multiple locations and loads them automatically.

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Package Structure

mypluginpkg/
└── yt_dlp_plugins/
    ├── extractor/
    │   └── myplugin.py
    └── postprocessor/
        └── myplugin.py
yt-dlp looks for yt_dlp_plugins namespace folders in many locations and loads plugins from all of them.

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Installing Plugins

Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.

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1. Configuration Directories

Plugin packages can be dropped into standard configuration locations:

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User Plugins

${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/

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System Plugins

/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/
/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/

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2. Executable Location

For portable installations, plugin packages can be installed in a yt-dlp-plugins directory: 
<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe
<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/

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3. pip and PYTHONPATH

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Install with pip

Plugin packages can be installed and managed using pip: 
pip install yt-dlp-sample-plugins
Plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.

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PYTHONPATH

Any path in PYTHONPATH is searched for the yt_dlp_plugins namespace folder.
This does not apply for PyInstaller builds.

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4. Archive Formats

.zip, .egg, and .whl archives containing a yt_dlp_plugins namespace folder in their root are also supported: 
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip
Where mypluginpkg.zip contains: 
yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py

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Verifying Plugin Installation

Run yt-dlp with --verbose to check if the plugin has been loaded: 
yt-dlp --verbose <url>

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Developing Plugins

See the yt-dlp-sample-plugins repo for a template plugin package and the Plugin Development section of the wiki for a detailed development guide.

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Plugin Discovery

All public classes with names ending in IE (extractors) or PP (postprocessors) are automatically imported from each file:
  • Underscore prefix indicates private classes (e.g., _MyBasePluginIE)
  • Respects __all__ declarations
  • Modules can be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g., _myplugin.py)

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Example Plugin Structure

yt_dlp_plugins/extractor/myplugin.py
from yt_dlp.extractor.common import InfoExtractor

class MyPluginIE(InfoExtractor):
    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?example\.com/watch\?v=(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
    
    def _real_extract(self, url):
        video_id = self._match_id(url)
        # Extraction logic here
        return {
            'id': video_id,
            'title': 'Video Title',
            # ... other metadata
        }

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Replacing Existing Extractors

To replace an existing extractor with a subclass, set the plugin_name class keyword argument: 
class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin'):
    # Your custom implementation
    pass
Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using underscore prefix or __all__.

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Plugin Class Loading

From yt_dlp/plugins.py:182-191: 
def get_regular_classes(module, module_name, suffix):
    # Find standard public plugin classes (not overrides)
    return inspect.getmembers(module, lambda obj: (
        inspect.isclass(obj)
        and obj.__name__.endswith(suffix)
        and obj.__module__.startswith(module_name)
        and not obj.__name__.startswith('_')
        and obj.__name__ in getattr(module, '__all__', [obj.__name__])
        and getattr(obj, 'PLUGIN_NAME', None) is None
    ))

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Disabling Plugins

Set the environment variable YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS to disable loading plugins entirely: 
export YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS=1
yt-dlp <url>

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Plugin Directories

You can specify custom plugin directories using the --plugin-dirs option: 
yt-dlp --plugin-dirs /path/to/plugins <url>
To clear all plugin directories: 
yt-dlp --no-plugin-dirs <url>

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Known Plugins

See the wiki for some known plugins.
If you are a plugin author, add yt-dlp-plugins as a topic to your repository for discoverability.

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API Stability

Due to necessary changes and the complex nature involved, no backwards compatibility is guaranteed for the plugin system API. However, the maintainers will still try their best to maintain compatibility.