> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Post-processing Options

> Audio extraction, video conversion, metadata embedding, and FFmpeg configuration

## Audio Extraction

<ParamField path="-x, --extract-audio" type="flag">
  Convert video files to audio-only files

  Requires ffmpeg and ffprobe
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--audio-format" type="string" default="best">
  Format to convert the audio to when `-x` is used

  Supported formats: `best`, `aac`, `alac`, `flac`, `m4a`, `mp3`, `opus`, `vorbis`, `wav`

  You can specify multiple rules using similar syntax as `--remux-video`

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 URL
  yt-dlp -x --audio-format "flac/mp3" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--audio-quality" type="string" default="5">
  Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when converting the audio with `-x`

  Insert a value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp -x --audio-quality 0 URL
  yt-dlp -x --audio-quality 128K URL
  ```
</ParamField>

## Video Format Conversion

<ParamField path="--remux-video" type="string">
  Remux the video into another container if necessary

  Supported formats: `avi`, `flv`, `gif`, `mkv`, `mov`, `mp4`, `webm`, `aac`, `aiff`, `alac`, `flac`, `m4a`, `mka`, `mp3`, `ogg`, `opus`, `vorbis`, `wav`

  If the target container does not support the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.

  You can specify multiple rules; e.g. "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --remux-video mkv URL
  yt-dlp --remux-video "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--recode-video" type="string">
  Re-encode the video into another format if necessary

  The syntax and supported formats are the same as `--remux-video`

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --recode-video mp4 URL
  ```
</ParamField>

## Postprocessor Arguments

<ParamField path="--postprocessor-args" type="string">
  Give these arguments to the postprocessors

  Format: `NAME:ARGS`

  Specify the postprocessor/executable name and the arguments separated by a colon ":"

  Supported PP: `Merger`, `ModifyChapters`, `SplitChapters`, `ExtractAudio`, `VideoRemuxer`, `VideoConvertor`, `Metadata`, `EmbedSubtitle`, `EmbedThumbnail`, `SubtitlesConvertor`, `ThumbnailsConvertor`, `FixupStretched`, `FixupM4a`, `FixupM3u8`, `FixupTimestamp`, `FixupDuration`

  Supported executables: `AtomicParsley`, `FFmpeg`, `FFprobe`

  You can also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the specified executable only when being used by the specified postprocessor.

  For ffmpeg/ffprobe, "\_i"/"\_o" can be appended to the prefix optionally followed by a number to pass the argument before the specified input/output file.

  Alias: `--ppa`

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet" URL
  yt-dlp --ppa "FFmpeg:-threads 4" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-k, --keep-video" type="flag">
  Keep the intermediate video file on disk after post-processing
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-keep-video" type="flag" default="true">
  Delete the intermediate video file after post-processing
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--post-overwrites" type="flag" default="true">
  Overwrite post-processed files
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-post-overwrites" type="flag">
  Do not overwrite post-processed files
</ParamField>

## Embedding

<ParamField path="--embed-subs" type="flag">
  Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4, webm and mkv videos)
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-embed-subs" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not embed subtitles
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--embed-thumbnail" type="flag">
  Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-embed-thumbnail" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not embed thumbnail
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--embed-metadata" type="flag">
  Embed metadata to the video file

  Also embeds chapters/infojson if present unless `--no-embed-chapters`/`--no-embed-info-json` are used

  Alias: `--add-metadata`
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-embed-metadata" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not add metadata to file

  Alias: `--no-add-metadata`
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--embed-chapters" type="flag">
  Add chapter markers to the video file

  Alias: `--add-chapters`
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-embed-chapters" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not add chapter markers

  Alias: `--no-add-chapters`
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--embed-info-json" type="flag">
  Embed the infojson as an attachment to mkv/mka video files
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-embed-info-json" type="flag">
  Do not embed the infojson as an attachment to the video file
</ParamField>

## Metadata Parsing

<ParamField path="--parse-metadata" type="string">
  Parse additional metadata like title/artist from other fields

  Format: `[WHEN:]FROM:TO`

  See "MODIFYING METADATA" for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as that of `--use-postprocessor` (default: `pre_process`)

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--replace-in-metadata" type="string">
  Replace text in a metadata field using the given regex

  Format: `[WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE`

  This option can be used multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as that of `--use-postprocessor` (default: `pre_process`)

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title" "\\[.*?\\]" "" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--xattrs" type="flag">
  Write metadata to the video file's xattrs (using Dublin Core and XDG standards)
</ParamField>

## Playlist Concatenation

<ParamField path="--concat-playlist" type="string">
  Concatenate videos in a playlist

  Values:

  * `never`
  * `always`
  * `multi_video` (default) - Only when the videos form a single show

  All the video files must have the same codecs and number of streams to be concatenable. The "pl\_video:" prefix can be used with `--paths` and `--output` to set the output filename for the concatenated files.

  See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
</ParamField>

## Fixup Policy

<ParamField path="--fixup" type="string">
  Automatically correct known faults of the file

  Values:

  * `never` - Do nothing
  * `warn` - Only emit a warning
  * `detect_or_warn` (default) - Fix the file if we can, warn otherwise
  * `force` - Try fixing even if the file already exists
</ParamField>

## FFmpeg Location

<ParamField path="--ffmpeg-location" type="string">
  Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the path to the binary or its containing directory

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --ffmpeg-location /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg URL
  yt-dlp --ffmpeg-location /usr/local/bin URL
  ```
</ParamField>

## Execute Command

<ParamField path="--exec" type="string">
  Execute a command, optionally prefixed with when to execute it

  Format: `[WHEN:]CMD`

  Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as that of `--use-postprocessor` (default: `after_move`)

  The same syntax as the output template can be used to pass any field as arguments to the command. If no fields are passed, `%(filepath,_filename|)q` is appended to the end of the command.

  This option can be used multiple times.

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --exec "echo Downloaded: {}" URL
  yt-dlp --exec after_video:"notify-send 'Download complete'" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-exec" type="flag">
  Remove any previously defined `--exec`
</ParamField>

## Format Conversion

<ParamField path="--convert-subs" type="string">
  Convert the subtitles to another format

  Currently supported: `ass`, `lrc`, `srt`, `vtt`

  Use `--convert-subs none` to disable conversion (default)

  Alias: `--convert-subtitles`

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --convert-subs srt URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--convert-thumbnails" type="string">
  Convert the thumbnails to another format

  Currently supported: `jpg`, `png`, `webp`

  You can specify multiple rules using similar syntax as `--remux-video`.

  Use `--convert-thumbnails none` to disable conversion (default)

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --convert-thumbnails jpg URL
  yt-dlp --convert-thumbnails "webp>jpg/png" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

## Chapter Handling

<ParamField path="--split-chapters" type="flag">
  Split video into multiple files based on internal chapters

  The "chapter:" prefix can be used with `--paths` and `--output` to set the output filename for the split files.

  See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-split-chapters" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not split video based on chapters
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--remove-chapters" type="string">
  Remove chapters whose title matches the given regular expression

  The syntax is the same as `--download-sections`. This option can be used multiple times.

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --remove-chapters "sponsor" URL
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-remove-chapters" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not remove any chapters from the file
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--force-keyframes-at-cuts" type="flag">
  Force keyframes at cuts when downloading/splitting/removing sections

  This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but the resulting video may have fewer artifacts around the cuts
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--no-force-keyframes-at-cuts" type="flag" default="true">
  Do not force keyframes around the chapters when cutting/splitting
</ParamField>

## Custom Postprocessors

<ParamField path="--use-postprocessor" type="string">
  The (case-sensitive) name of plugin postprocessors to be enabled, and (optionally) arguments to be passed to it

  Format: `NAME[:ARGS]`

  ARGS are a semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.

  The "when" argument determines when the postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of:

  * `pre_process` - After video extraction
  * `after_filter` - After video passes filter
  * `video` - After --format; before --print/--output
  * `before_dl` - Before each video download
  * `post_process` (default) - After each video download
  * `after_move` - After moving the video file to its final location
  * `after_video` - After downloading and processing all formats of a video
  * `playlist` - At end of playlist

  This option can be used multiple times to add different postprocessors.

  **Example:**

  ```bash theme={null}
  yt-dlp --use-postprocessor "FFmpegMetadata:when=pre_process" URL
  ```
</ParamField>