Youtube-DL Config File
Config file Location
Save your configuration file as config in <User Home Dir>/.config/youtube-dl/
~/.config/youtube-dl/config
Config file Options
Batch Downloads
Batch downloads videos listed in a text file - One URL per line, in order. Comment out this line if you prefer to individually download from URLs entered at the command line.
--batch-file "$HOME/Projects/youtube-dl/config/ytdl-queue.txt"
Save Path
$HOME/Projects/youtube-dl/output/<Title of Playlist>/<Playlist Index Number> - <Video Title>.<Extension>
-o "$HOME/Projects/youtube-dl/output/%(playlist_title)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"
Download Archvie
Use a file as archive history. When a video download is completed successfully, record it in the archive file. After that, the video will be skipped and not downloaded again.
--download-archive "$HOME/Projects/youtube-dl/config/ytdl-archive.txt"
.netrc
Enables .netrc file as database of login credentials
--netrc
Preferred Format
This will attempt to download reasonably sized .MP4 files with sane bitrates to keep the total filesize managable. As set up, its first choice is 720p (starting with bitrates under 1100kb/s then moving through up to 1600kb/s), Then files with a resolution higher than 480p up to and including 1080p (with the same bitrate progression <1100kb/s through <1800kb/s). If it can't find anything with a reasonable bitrate, it downloads the best file it can.
-f 'best[ext=mp4][height=720][tbr<=?1100]'/'best[ext=mp4][height=720][tbr<=?1400]'/'best[ext=mp4][height=720][tbr<=?1600]'/'best[ext=mp4][height<=?1080][height>480][tbr<=?1100]'/'best[ext=mp4][height<=?1080][height>480][tbr<=?1400]'/'best[ext=mp4][height<=?1080][height>480][tbr<=?1600]'/'best[ext=mp4][height<=?1080][height>480][tbr<=?1800]'/'best[ext=mp4][height<=?1080][height>480]'/best
List Formats
Get a list of all available formats for a particular video, and print them to console, but do not download.
--list-formats
All Formats
Download all available formats. If you use this, I recommend using an output naming structure that includes the '%(format)s' string This will include a human-readable format description in the file-name.
--all-formats
Number of Retries
(default is 10)
--retries 15
Timeout
Time to wait before giving up
--socket-timeout 20
Sleep
Number of seconds to sleep before each download in seconds (lower/upper bounds)
This will help avoid HTTP timeouts if you are downloading a large amount of files, ie: from a playlist or using the queue.
If you get a timeout during a long queue or a big playlist, youtube-dl is not able to recover from the error and quits.
--sleep-interval 20
--max-sleep-interval 25
Prefer ffmpeg
Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the postprocessors (default)
--prefer-ffmpeg
Disable Progress bar
Do not print progress bar
--no-progress
Ignore Errors
--ignore-errors
Force IPv4 Connections
--force-ipv4
Config File DEBUG Options
Verbose
Print various debugging information
--verbose
Simulate
Simulate action only, do not download
--simulate
Write Description
Write video description to a .description file
--write-description
Write Info Json
Write video metadata to a .info.json file
--write-info-json
Write Annotations
Write video annotations to a .annotations.xml file
--write-annotations
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