Video Format Options

Select and configure video/audio formats, quality, and container preferences

Format Selection

-f, --format · string

Video format code

See “FORMAT SELECTION” for more details

Example:

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio" URL
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]" URL
yt-dlp -f 137+140 URL  # Specific format codes

-S, --format-sort · string

Sort the formats by the fields given

See “Sorting Formats” for more details

Example:

yt-dlp -S "res,fps" URL
yt-dlp -S "quality,codec:h264" URL

--format-sort-reset · flag

Disregard previous user specified sort order and reset to the default

--format-sort-force · flag

Force user specified sort order to have precedence over all fields

See “Sorting Formats” for more details

Alias: --S-force

--no-format-sort-force · flag · default: "true"

Some fields have precedence over the user specified sort order

Multistream Options

--video-multistreams · flag

Allow multiple video streams to be merged into a single file

--no-video-multistreams · flag · default: "true"

Only one video stream is downloaded for each output file

--audio-multistreams · flag

Allow multiple audio streams to be merged into a single file

--no-audio-multistreams · flag · default: "true"

Only one audio stream is downloaded for each output file

Container Preferences

--prefer-free-formats · flag

Prefer video formats with free containers over non-free ones of the same quality

Use with “-S ext” to strictly prefer free containers irrespective of quality

--no-prefer-free-formats · flag · default: "true"

Don’t give any special preference to free containers

Format Checking

--check-formats · flag

Make sure formats are selected only from those that are actually downloadable

--check-all-formats · flag

Check all formats for whether they are actually downloadable

--no-check-formats · flag

Do not check that the formats are actually downloadable

Format Listing

-F, --list-formats · flag

List available formats of each video

Simulate unless --no-simulate is used

Example:

yt-dlp -F URL

Merge Output Format

--merge-output-format · string

Containers that may be used when merging formats, separated by ”/”

Ignored if no merge is required.

Currently supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm

Example:

yt-dlp --merge-output-format "mp4/mkv" URL