Filesystem Options

Configure output paths, filenames, file handling, metadata files, and cookies

Input Sources

-a, --batch-file · string

File containing URLs to download (”-” for stdin), one URL per line

Lines starting with ”#”, ”;” or ”]” are considered as comments and ignored

Example:

yt-dlp -a urls.txt
cat urls.txt | yt-dlp -a -

--no-batch-file · flag · default: "true"

Do not read URLs from batch file

Output Path Configuration

-P, --paths · string

The paths where the files should be downloaded

Format: [TYPES:]PATH

Specify the type of file and the path separated by a colon ”:”. All the same TYPES as --output are supported. Additionally, you can also provide “home” (default) and “temp” paths.

All intermediary files are first downloaded to the temp path and then the final files are moved over to the home path after download is finished.

This option is ignored if --output is an absolute path.

Example:

yt-dlp -P ~/Downloads -P "temp:/tmp" URL

-o, --output · string

Output filename template

Format: [TYPES:]TEMPLATE

See “OUTPUT TEMPLATE” for details

Example:

yt-dlp -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" URL
yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s" URL

--output-na-placeholder · string · default: "NA"

Placeholder for unavailable fields in --output

Filename Restrictions

--restrict-filenames · flag

Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and avoid ”&” and spaces in filenames

--no-restrict-filenames · flag · default: "true"

Allow Unicode characters, ”&” and spaces in filenames

--windows-filenames · flag

Force filenames to be Windows-compatible

--no-windows-filenames · flag

Sanitize filenames only minimally

--trim-filenames · number

Limit the filename length (excluding extension) to the specified number of characters

Example:

yt-dlp --trim-filenames 100 URL

File Overwrite Behavior

-w, --no-overwrites · flag

Do not overwrite any files

--force-overwrites · flag

Overwrite all video and metadata files

This option includes --no-continue

--no-force-overwrites · flag · default: "true"

Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite related files

-c, --continue · flag · default: "true"

Resume partially downloaded files/fragments

--no-continue · flag

Do not resume partially downloaded fragments. If the file is not fragmented, restart download of the entire file

--part · flag · default: "true"

Use .part files instead of writing directly into output file

--no-part · flag

Do not use .part files - write directly into output file

File Timestamps

--mtime · flag

Use the Last-modified header to set the file modification time

--no-mtime · flag · default: "true"

Do not use the Last-modified header to set the file modification time

Metadata Files

--write-description · flag

Write video description to a .description file

--no-write-description · flag · default: "true"

Do not write video description

--write-info-json · flag

Write video metadata to a .info.json file

This may contain personal information

--no-write-info-json · flag · default: "true"

Do not write video metadata

--write-playlist-metafiles · flag · default: "true"

Write playlist metadata in addition to the video metadata when using --write-info-json, --write-description etc.

--no-write-playlist-metafiles · flag

Do not write playlist metadata when using --write-info-json, --write-description etc.

--clean-info-json · flag · default: "true"

Remove some internal metadata such as filenames from the infojson

--no-clean-info-json · flag

Write all fields to the infojson

Comments

--write-comments · flag

Retrieve video comments to be placed in the infojson

The comments are fetched even without this option if the extraction is known to be quick

Alias: --get-comments

--no-write-comments · flag

Do not retrieve video comments unless the extraction is known to be quick

Alias: --no-get-comments

--load-info-json · string

JSON file containing the video information (created with the --write-info-json option)

Example:

yt-dlp --load-info-json video.info.json

Cookies

--cookies · string

Netscape formatted file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in

Example:

yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt URL

--no-cookies · flag · default: "true"

Do not read/dump cookies from/to file

--cookies-from-browser · string

The name of the browser to load cookies from

Format: BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]

Supported browsers: brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi, whale

Optionally:

• KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
• Name/path of the PROFILE to load cookies from
• CONTAINER name (if Firefox) (“none” for no container)

By default, all containers of the most recently accessed profile are used.

Supported keyrings: basictext, gnomekeyring, kwallet, kwallet5, kwallet6

Example:

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome URL
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox:default::container1 URL

--no-cookies-from-browser · flag · default: "true"

Do not load cookies from browser

Cache

--cache-dir · string

Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can store some downloaded information (such as client ids and signatures) permanently

Default: ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp

Example:

yt-dlp --cache-dir ~/.cache/yt-dlp URL

--no-cache-dir · flag

Disable filesystem caching

--rm-cache-dir · flag

Delete all filesystem cache files

Thumbnail Options

--write-thumbnail · flag

Write thumbnail image to disk

Example:

yt-dlp --write-thumbnail URL

--no-write-thumbnail · flag · default: "true"

Do not write thumbnail image to disk

--write-all-thumbnails · flag

Write all thumbnail image formats to disk

Example:

yt-dlp --write-all-thumbnails URL

--list-thumbnails · flag

List available thumbnails of each video

Simulate unless --no-simulate is used

Example:

yt-dlp --list-thumbnails URL

Internet Shortcut Options

--write-link · flag

Write an internet shortcut file, depending on the current platform (.url, .webloc or .desktop)

The URL may be cached by the OS

Example:

yt-dlp --write-link URL

--write-url-link · flag

Write a .url Windows internet shortcut

The OS caches the URL based on the file path

--write-webloc-link · flag

Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut

--write-desktop-link · flag

Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut