Format Selection in yt-dlp

Format selection in yt-dlp is a powerful feature that allows you to choose specific video and audio qualities, codecs, and containers for download. By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality, but you can customize this behavior extensively.

Default Behavior

By default, yt-dlp uses the following format selection logic:

• Standard: -f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best (best video + best audio, fallback to best combined)
• With multistreams: -f bestvideo+bestaudio/best (when --audio-multistreams is enabled)
• Without ffmpeg: -f best/bestvideo+bestaudio (fallback if ffmpeg unavailable)
• Streaming to stdout: -f best/bestvideo+bestaudio (when using -o -)

Basic Format Selection

Viewing Available Formats

Before selecting formats, list all available options:

List all available formats

yt-dlp -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc"

List formats in a more compact way

yt-dlp --list-formats "URL"

Simple Format Selection

Download specific format by ID

yt-dlp -f 22 URL

Download best mp4 format

yt-dlp -f mp4 URL

Download best webm format

yt-dlp -f webm URL

Interactive format selection

yt-dlp -f - URL

Special Format Selectors

Quality Selectors

Best quality formats

-f best

Best combined video+audio format

-f best*

Best format (video or audio or both)

-f bestvideo

Best video-only format

-f bestvideo*

Best format containing video

-f bestaudio

Best audio-only format

-f bestaudio*

Best format containing audio

Worst quality formats

-f worst

Worst combined video+audio format

-f worst*

Worst format (video or audio or both)

-f worstvideo

Worst video-only format

-f worstvideo*

Worst format containing video

-f worstaudio

Worst audio-only format

-f worstaudio*

Worst format containing audio

Special Selectors

Download all formats separately

-f all

Download and merge all formats (requires --audio-multistreams/--video-multistreams)

-f mergeall

Select nth best format

-f best.2

2nd best combined format

-f bestvideo.3

3rd best video format

Format Filtering

Numeric Comparisons

Filter formats using numeric field comparisons:

Video dimensions

-f "best[height=720]"

Exactly 720p height

-f "best[height<=720]"

720p or lower

-f "best[height>=1080]"

1080p or higher

-f "best[width<1920]"

Width less than 1920

-f "best[width*height<=1000000]"

Total pixels limit

Bitrates and quality

-f "best[tbr<=1000]"

Total bitrate ≤ 1000 kbps

-f "best[vbr>=500]"

Video bitrate ≥ 500 kbps

-f "best[abr<=128]"

Audio bitrate ≤ 128 kbps

-f "best[fps>30]"

Frame rate > 30 fps

-f "best[asr=48000]"

Audio sample rate = 48kHz

File size

-f "best[filesize<50M]"

File size less than 50MB

-f "best[filesize_approx<100M]"

Approximate size < 100MB

String Comparisons

Filter formats using string field comparisons:

Extensions and containers

-f "best[ext=mp4]"

MP4 container

-f "best[ext^=mp]"

Extension starts with "mp"

-f "best[ext$=4]"

Extension ends with "4"

-f "best[ext*=p4]"

Extension contains "p4"

Codecs

-f "best[vcodec=h264]"

H.264 video codec

-f "best[vcodec^=h26]"

Video codec starts with "h26"

-f "best[acodec=aac]"

AAC audio codec

-f "best[acodec!=none]"

Has audio codec (not audio-only)

-f "best[vcodec!=none]"

Has video codec (not video-only)

Protocol

-f "best[protocol=https]"

HTTPS protocol only

-f "best[protocol^=http]"

HTTP or HTTPS protocol

Language

-f "best[language=en]"

English language

-f "best[language~=en.*]"

English language (regex)

Advanced Filtering

Multiple conditions (AND)

-f "best[height<=720][fps<=30]"

Unknown values (use ? to include unknown)

-f "best[height<=?720]"

720p or lower, include unknown heights

Negation

-f "best[!height>720]"

NOT height > 720 (equivalent to height<=720)

Grouping with parentheses

-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"

MP4 or WebM with height < 480

Complex conditions

-f "best[height<=720][tbr>500][ext=mp4]"

Format Merging

Basic Merging

Merge best video with best audio

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio" URL

Merge specific formats

yt-dlp -f "136+140" URL

Format IDs 136 (video) + 140 (audio)

Merge with fallback

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" URL

Advanced Merging

Merge multiple formats (requires multistream options)

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio+bestaudio.2" --audio-multistreams URL

Merge all audio formats

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams URL

Merge with container preference

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]" URL

Format Selection with Preferences

Preference Order

Use / to specify preference order (left has higher priority):

Try specific format first, fallback to best

yt-dlp -f "22/best" URL

Multiple fallbacks

yt-dlp -f "22/17/18/best" URL

Complex preference with merging

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best" URL

Multiple Downloads

Use , to download multiple formats:

Download multiple formats separately

yt-dlp -f "22,17,18" URL

Download best video and audio separately

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo,bestaudio" URL

Use different output template for multiple formats

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo,bestaudio" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s" URL

Format Sorting (-S Option)

The -S option provides advanced sorting capabilities:

Available Sort Fields

Quality and technical specs

-S "height"

Sort by video height (higher first)

-S "width"

Sort by video width

-S "res"

Sort by resolution (smallest dimension)

-S "fps"

Sort by frame rate

-S "tbr"

Sort by total bitrate

-S "vbr"

Sort by video bitrate

-S "abr"

Sort by audio bitrate

-S "br"

Sort by bitrate (tbr/vbr/abr)

-S "asr"

Sort by audio sample rate

Codecs and containers

-S "vcodec"

Sort by video codec preference

-S "acodec"

Sort by audio codec preference

-S "codec"

Sort by codec (vcodec,acodec)

-S "ext"

Sort by extension preference

-S "vext"

Sort by video extension

-S "aext"

Sort by audio extension

File properties

-S "size"

Sort by file size

-S "filesize"

Sort by exact file size

-S "fs_approx"

Sort by approximate file size

Other fields

-S "proto"

Sort by protocol preference

-S "lang"

Sort by language preference

-S "quality"

Sort by quality preference

-S "source"

Sort by source preference

-S "hdr"

Sort by dynamic range

-S "channels"

Sort by audio channels

Sort Modifiers

Reverse order (ascending)

-S "+height"

Prefer smaller height

-S "+size"

Prefer smaller file size

Preferred values

-S "height:720"

Prefer 720p, larger is better but cap at 720p

-S "res:480"

Prefer 480p resolution

-S "codec:h264:aac"

Prefer H.264 video and AAC audio

Nearest value

-S "filesize~100M"

Prefer size closest to 100MB

Multiple sort criteria

-S "height,fps,vcodec"

Sort by height, then fps, then codec

-S "res:720,fps,hdr:12,vcodec"

Complex multi-field sorting

Sort Examples

Download smallest video

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

Download best quality under 720p

yt-dlp -S "res:720" URL

Prefer H.264 and AAC

yt-dlp -S "vcodec:h264,acodec:aac" URL

Prefer file size closest to 500MB

yt-dlp -S "filesize~500M" URL

Complex sorting for best quality under constraints

yt-dlp -S "res:1080,fps:60,vcodec:h264,size" URL

Practical Examples

YouTube Specific

Best quality avoiding VP9 (for compatibility)

yt-dlp -S "vcodec:h264,res,fps" URL

Best audio quality

yt-dlp -f "bestaudio[ext=m4a]/bestaudio" URL

720p MP4 with AAC audio

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=720][ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]" URL

Download with subtitle preference

yt-dlp -f "best[height<=1080]" --sub-langs "en,en-US" --write-subs URL

Size-Conscious Downloads

Best quality under 100MB

yt-dlp -f "best[filesize<100M]" URL

Smallest file with decent quality

yt-dlp -S "+size,res:480" URL

Best quality preferring smaller codecs

yt-dlp -S "vcodec:h264,+size" URL

High-Quality Downloads

Best possible quality

yt-dlp -S "res,fps,vcodec,acodec" URL

4K with best audio

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height>=2160]+bestaudio" URL

HDR content preference

yt-dlp -S "hdr,res,fps" URL

Compatibility-Focused

MP4 container with H.264/AAC for maximum compatibility

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4][vcodec^=avc1]+bestaudio[ext=m4a][acodec^=mp4a]/best[ext=mp4]" URL

WebM for modern browsers

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=webm]+bestaudio[ext=webm]/best[ext=webm]" URL

Avoid problematic formats

yt-dlp -f "best[vcodec!=vp9][acodec!=opus]" URL

Format Selection Best Practices

General Guidelines

1. Use -F first: Always check available formats before choosing
2. Prefer merging: Use bestvideo+bestaudio for best quality
3. Set fallbacks: Use / to provide alternatives
4. Container compatibility: Match video/audio containers when possible
5. Size awareness: Use file size filters for bandwidth constraints

Common Patterns

Balanced quality and size

yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps:30,+size" URL

Maximum compatibility

yt-dlp -f "best[ext=mp4]/best" URL

Best quality with size limit

yt-dlp -f "best[filesize<200M]/worst" URL

Audio extraction

yt-dlp -f "bestaudio" -x --audio-format mp3 URL

Troubleshooting

Force format checking

yt-dlp --check-formats -f "your_format_selector" URL

List all formats for debugging

yt-dlp -F --list-formats URL

Use verbose output for format selection details

yt-dlp -v -f "your_format_selector" URL

Format selection in yt-dlp is extremely flexible and powerful. Start with simple selectors and gradually build complexity as needed. The key is understanding your priorities: quality, file size, compatibility, or specific technical requirements.