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yt-dlp cheat sheet

yt-dlp cheat sheet

The commands worth keeping, grouped by task. Every one tested against yt-dlp 2026.07.28. Copy buttons on all of them, and the builder if you would rather click than type.

The one to remember

Best quality the site offers, merged into an mp4 that plays everywhere, tagged, named after the video. If you take one command away from this page, this is it.

the sensible default

yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b" --merge-output-format mp4 --embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

Quality

see what is on offer — run this before guessing

yt-dlp -F "URL"

cap at 1080p

yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=1080]+ba/b[height<=1080]/b" "URL"

4K if it exists, best available if not

yt-dlp -S "res:2160" "URL"

maximum compatibility — H.264 in mp4, plays on any TV

yt-dlp -S "res:1080,vcodec:h264,acodec:m4a" --merge-output-format mp4 "URL"

smallest file, for a quick look

yt-dlp -S "+size" "URL"

Format selection covers the syntax; if a download comes out at 360p, this page narrows it to one of four causes in a single command.

Audio

keep the original — no re-encode, seconds not minutes

yt-dlp -x --audio-format m4a --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata "URL"

mp3, when a device requires it

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata "URL"

a music library, organised

yt-dlp -x --audio-format m4a --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata \
  -o "%(artist,uploader)s/%(album,playlist)s/%(track,title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

Playlists and channels

just this video, not the playlist it sits in

yt-dlp --no-playlist "URL"

a whole playlist, resumable, numbered so it sorts

yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt -i \
  -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"

a range of items

yt-dlp -I 5-20 "PLAYLIST_URL"

a whole channel, paced so it finishes

yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt --sleep-requests 2 --limit-rate 4M -i \
  -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://www.youtube.com/@channel/videos"

count what you are committing to, in seconds

yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "%(title)s" "CHANNEL_URL" | wc -l

Subtitles

what exists

yt-dlp --list-subs "URL"

real subtitles and machine captions, embedded

yt-dlp --write-subs --write-auto-subs --sub-langs "en.*" --embed-subs --merge-output-format mkv "URL"

separate .srt files

yt-dlp --write-subs --write-auto-subs --sub-langs "en.*" --convert-subs srt "URL"

transcript only, no video

yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-subs --sub-langs "en.*" --convert-subs srt "URL"

SponsorBlock

mark segments as chapters — nothing is re-cut

yt-dlp --sponsorblock-mark all --embed-chapters "URL"

cut the advertising out

yt-dlp --sponsorblock-remove "sponsor,selfpromo,interaction" "URL"

Signing in

read Firefox's cookies — works while it is open

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox "URL"

an exported file — works headless and in containers

yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt "URL"

a client that is not challenged — no account needed

yt-dlp --extractor-args "youtube:player_client=tv" "URL"

Naming and folders

channel folders, ids kept so nothing collides

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

dated archive

yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

safe on network shares, Windows and Android

yt-dlp --restrict-filenames --trim-filenames 120 "URL"

preview the paths without downloading

yt-dlp --simulate --print filename -o "YOUR TEMPLATE" "PLAYLIST_URL"

When it is slow or blocked

pacing that keeps a long job under the limit

yt-dlp --sleep-requests 2 --sleep-interval 5 --max-sleep-interval 15 --limit-rate 2M -i "URL"

faster on fragmented formats

yt-dlp -N 4 "URL"

fixes most 403s and throttling

yt-dlp -U && yt-dlp --rm-cache-dir

Diagnostics

everything, downloading nothing

yt-dlp --simulate -v "URL"

what a command would produce

yt-dlp --simulate --print "%(format_id)s %(height)sp %(vcodec)s %(filesize_approx)s" "URL"

all the metadata there is

yt-dlp --dump-json "URL"

rule out your config file

yt-dlp --ignore-config "URL"

a report worth filing

yt-dlp -vU "URL" 2>&1 | tee report.txt

Updating

bash

yt-dlp --version
yt-dlp -U
yt-dlp --update-to nightly
yt-dlp --update-to stable

-U only works on the standalone binary. A pip or package-manager install has to be updated the same way it was installed — which decides how fast fixes reach you.

A config file worth having

Everything above that you would otherwise retype. Windows: %APPDATA%\yt-dlp\config.txt. Elsewhere: ~/.config/yt-dlp/config. No quotes in this file — it is not parsed by a shell.

yt-dlp.conf

-S res:1080,vcodec:h264,acodec:m4a
--merge-output-format mp4
-o %(uploader)s/%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s
--restrict-filenames
--embed-metadata
--embed-thumbnail
--embed-chapters
--no-playlist
--sleep-requests 1.5
-i

The config guide covers load order and the lines worth thinking twice about.

Frequently asked

Why is -f best not on this page?

Because it does the opposite of what people expect: it means the best pre-merged file, which on YouTube is 360p. yt-dlp's default already merges and is better than the thing most guides replace it with.

Do these work on sites other than YouTube?

Most of them, on most of the thousand-odd supported sites. The exceptions are anything using --extractor-args youtube, and format selectors assuming split video and audio streams — many sites only serve combined files, which is why bv*+ba/b appears rather than bestvideo+bestaudio.

Can I run these on Windows as written?

Yes in PowerShell and Windows Terminal. The one difference is line continuations — the trailing backslash works in PowerShell 7 but not in cmd.exe, where you would paste the command as a single line.