Quick reference guide for the most common yt-dlp commands and options.
yt-dlp is an open-source command-line tool and an actively maintained fork of youtube-dl (offering faster bug fixes and 1700+ site support) for downloading videos, audio, and playlists.
This cheatsheet covers common commands for downloading 1080p/4K video, extracting MP3 audio, configuring proxy and network options, and embedding subtitles.
New to the tool? Visit our comprehensive yt-dlp Download & Install Guide, or simply run the examples below directly in our online console without any setup.
Prefer to build your own command? Try our interactive yt-dlp Command Generator — pick options and get the exact command.
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0"
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "https://soundcloud.com/..."
yt-dlp -F "https://vimeo.com/..."
yt-dlp -f "best[height<=1080]" "https://www..."
yt-dlp --yes-playlist "https://www.youtube/..."
yt-dlp --embed-subs "https://www..."
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Download the best quality video (default behavior). | |
| yt-dlp -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://vimeo.com/906834164" | Save video with custom output path and filename template. | |
| yt-dlp --limit-rate 50K "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8j5y9z" | Cap download speed to reduce bandwidth throttling (e.g. 50K, 10M). | |
| yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date)s - %(title)s (%(id)s).%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Avoid file conflicts by embedding upload date and unique video ID in the output filename. |
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp -F "https://vimeo.com/906834164" | List all available resolutions, sizes, codecs and formats. | |
| yt-dlp -f 137 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Select and download a specific format code (use -F to find codes first). | |
| yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Download best video quality at or below 1080p. Same height filter works for 1440p (2K) and 2160p (4K). | |
| yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]" --merge-output-format mp4 "https://vimeo.com/906834164" | Force download the best quality as a merged MP4 format. | |
| yt-dlp --recode-video mp4 "https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8j5y9z" | Download video and recode it to standard MP4 (useful if platform uses non-standard containers like WebM). |
-f bestvideo+bestaudio combined with --merge-output-format mp4 for the best quality with maximum device compatibility. On ytdlp.online, ffmpeg merging is handled automatically on our server.
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp -x "https://soundcloud.com/monstercat/aero-chord-surface" | Extract audio track only (auto-detects the best default format). | |
| yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "https://soundcloud.com/monstercat/aero-chord-surface" | Download audio and convert it specifically to MP3 format. | |
| yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "https://soundcloud.com/monstercat/aero-chord-surface" | Download audio and extract it as best quality MP3 (VBR 0 / 320kbps equivalent). | |
| yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata "https://soundcloud.com/monstercat/aero-chord-surface" | Download MP3 and embed original video description, tags, and thumbnail cover art. |
--embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata to your MP3 extraction gives you album art and song tags automatically — perfect for music library apps like iTunes or Spotify Local Files.
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp --yes-playlist "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRBp0Fe2GpgnIh0AiYKh7o7HnYAej-5ph" | Force download all videos inside a playlist link. | |
| yt-dlp --no-playlist "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Only download the single video in the URL, ignoring the playlist it belongs to. | |
| yt-dlp --playlist-items 1-5 "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRBp0Fe2GpgnIh0AiYKh7o7HnYAej-5ph" | Download a specific index range of a playlist (e.g. 1-5, 1,3,5). |
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp --list-subs "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | List all manually uploaded and auto-generated subtitles. | |
| yt-dlp --write-auto-subs --skip-download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Extract and write auto-generated subtitle files only, skipping the video download. | |
| yt-dlp --embed-subs --merge-output-format mp4 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Download video and automatically embed subtitles as soft-subs into the merged MP4 file. | |
| yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs en "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Download manually uploaded subtitles in a specific language (e.g. en, zh-Hans, ja). Use --list-subs to see available languages first. |
--sub-langs all to download subtitles in every available language, or --sub-langs "en,zh-Hans" to grab multiple languages at once. For the full subtitle reference, see our yt-dlp Help Page.
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Use an existing browser session on your own machine (e.g. chrome, firefox) for authentication. |
|
| yt-dlp --impersonate chrome "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Configure client emulation or TLS fingerprint compatibility (requires curl-cffi). | |
| yt-dlp --extractor-args youtube:player_client=default,-android_sdkless "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Specify a custom combination of YouTube player clients to resolve stream extraction issues. | |
| yt-dlp --proxy "http://proxy-ip:port" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Route yt-dlp traffic through an HTTP, HTTPS, or SOCKS proxy — useful for geo-blocked content. | |
| yt-dlp --geo-bypass-country US "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Set a country code for geo-restricted sources (e.g. US, GB, JP). Official yt-dlp flag: --geo-bypass-country. |
| Command | Description | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp -a urls.txt | Batch download all video URLs listed line-by-line in a text file. |
|
| yt-dlp --split-chapters "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ7Xl79OqNY" | Split a video automatically into separate tracks/files based on its internal chapters. | |
| yt-dlp --external-downloader aria2c "https://vimeo.com/906834164" | Use external multi-threaded downloader (Aria2) to significantly speed up your downloads. | |
| yt-dlp --sleep-interval 5 --max-sleep-interval 15 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Enforce random delays (5 to 15s) between downloads to prevent IP address bans. | |
| yt-dlp --download-sections "*00:01:00-00:02:30" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Download a specific video clip or time range (e.g., 1m0s to 2m30s) instead of the entire video. | |
| yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0" | Track download history in archive.txt and automatically skip previously downloaded videos. |
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yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0"
yt-dlp -U
.exe as a false positive due to PyInstaller packaging. Install via winget install yt-dlp to avoid this. For a zero-install option, use our online console. Read more in our safety guide.
winget install yt-dlp. You can also use Scoop, Chocolatey, pip, or download the standalone yt-dlp.exe directly from GitHub.
Run any yt-dlp command on our server. No installation required.