Frequently Asked Questions

How can I make sure I’m getting the best quality possible?

Don’t force any output format, leave the default format selected in the main window (default = highest quality). Read Format Selection for more details.

Post processing takes too long

There should be no post-processing if you leave the video format to default (which defaults to the best format) and did not check convert to audio or embed subtitles, otherwise the file will be re-encoded to the format you selected (which takes time/CPU resources).

The website I’m trying to download from is not supported

yt-dlg uses youtube-dl in the backend to download files. Youtube-dl provides a list of extractors to work with each particular site. If you’d like to request support for a new website, please submit it to youtube-dl’s issue tracker.

How do I change the naming pattern for downloaded files?

You can change the naming pattern by picking a different filename format under the Settings -> Options -> General tab. You can also use a custom pattern by setting the option to “Custom” and editing the output template field. For more infomations on the output template see youtube-dl’s output template section.

When is the next release coming?

yt-dlg does not have a release schedule, next release will come when it’s ready.

How can i log the youtube-dl’s debug output?

Just go to Settings -> Options -> Extra tab and enable the “Debug CLI Backend” option.

I don’t see my language in the available subtitles languages

You can’t see it because it’s not there, feel free to open a new pull-request and add support for your language (it’s literally one line of code you don’t need years of experience).

I’m on OS-X and i get ‘No module named wx’ error

You need to install wxPython. If you have homebrew installed you can just run: brew install wxpython

Is there an option to change the maximum parallel downloads?

You can change the number of max parallel downloads by editing the “workers_number” option in your settings.json file. Note that you need to restart yt-dlg for the changes to take place.

settings.json file location:

Windows: %appdata%\yt-dlg\settings.json
Linux / macOS: ~/.config/yt-dlg/settings.json

Not all formats reported by youtube-dl ‘-F’ are available in yt-dlg

Unfortunately it is not possible to support all the video formats that youtube-dl provides. If you want to use a “custom” format you can follow this steps:

Set the download format to “default”
Go to Settings->Options->Extra tab
Add -f your_custom_format in the commands box
Download your video as you would normally do

How can i use a youtube-dl option that’s not available in yt-dlg?

You can add extra youtube-dl command line options in the commands box under the Settings -> Options-> Extra tab.

Can i download only the subtitles file?

If the video file is presented yt-dlg will go ahead and download only the subtitles file. If the video file is NOT presented you can add the --skip-download option, which will skip the video download phase. If you are not happy with the above options you should use a different tool for the job since yt-dlg is not a subtitles downloader.

I’m using the HLS downloader and i don’t see any progress report

That’s a known issue you should use the native HLS implementation by enabling the “Prefer Native HLS” option under the Settings -> Options -> Extra tab. NOTE that the native HLS implementation might not work on every site. For more info you can read issue #49.

I’m using the HLS downloader and the ‘stop’ button won’t work

That’s also a known issue with the HLS downloader on Windows. You should use the native HLS implementation or wait for the download to complete normally. For more info you can read issue #49.

Is it possible to use a youtube-dl version other than the official one?

You can use your own version of youtube-dl by editing the “youtubedl_path” option in your settings.json file and make it point to your own binary (e.g. /usr/local/bin). Note that if yt-dlg does not have write permissions to this new directory the “update” option in the GUI will fail. Also, note that changing the “youtubedl_path” won’t change the update source which is hardcoded for now to “https://yt-dl.org/latest/”.

The program crashes frequently or pretends to succeed downloading the files (Windows)

Follow youtube-dl instructions on updating your Visual C++ Redistributable.

How download Full HD resolution (1080p) YouTube videos?

Follow these steps: Settings -> Extras tab and add the following line:

-f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/bestvideo+bestaudio"

[Optional] ☑️ Uncheck the Prefer native HLS option

⚠️ Note: This option requires ffmpeg