yt-dlp Terminal

Discover the yt-dlp online web console

Please run the samples and/or type your own Python code to learn yt-dlp.

Print the version of yt-dlp

yt_dlp.version.__version__

Extracting information

URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKci8jY510'

ydl_opts = {}

with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
    info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
    print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))

Filter videos

URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKci8jY510'

def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
    """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
    duration = info.get('duration')
    if duration and duration < 60:
        return 'The video is too short'

ydl_opts = {
    'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
}

with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
    info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
    print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))

Use a custom format selector

URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKci8jY510'

def format_selector(ctx):
    """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
    NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """

    # formats are already sorted worst to best
    formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]

    # acodec='none' means there is no audio
    best_video = next(f for f in formats
                      if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')

    # find compatible audio extension
    audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
    # vcodec='none' means there is no video
    best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
        f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))

    # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
    yield {
        'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
        'ext': best_video['ext'],
        'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
        # Must be + separated list of protocols
        'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
    }

ydl_opts = {
    'format': format_selector,
}

with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
    info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
    print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))

Licensing

yt-dlp is available under the Unlicense license.