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I always do yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best" Not sure if there is a better way, ideally I would just like it to always d

I always do yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best" Not sure if there is a better way, ideally I would just like it to always default to that.

nicolasp 3y ago
You can put these options in a config file and they will become the default: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#configuration https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#configur...
pdimitar 3y ago
As the sibling poster said, you can and should configure `yt-dlp`. Here are the contents of my config file: --restrict-filenames --output '%(title)s.%(ext)s' --ignore-errors --embed-subs --all-subs --sub-langs all,-live_chat --compat-options no-live-chat --convert-subs srt --format 'vcodec=av01/bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best' --convert-thumbnails jpg --embed-thumbnail --audio-quality 0 --add-metadata --xattrs --xattr-set-filesize --prefer-free-formats --geo-bypass --no-mark-watched --console-title --no-warnings --sponsorblock-remove all --compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley You can look them up on the README. It's quite a bit of work, granted, but to me it was very worth it.
- __jonas 3y ago
  Wow thank you for sharing! I might just use yours, looks almost exactly like what I would want. yt-dlp really is a great tool too, I do hope it keeps working for a long time
- account42 3y ago
  > ext=mp4 > prefer-free-formats Are you entirely sure you know what you are doing?
  - pdimitar 3y ago
    Did you miss the "prefer" word? ;)
    - account42 3y ago
      I'll take that as a no.
      - pdimitar 3y ago
        I am half-aware of the licensing troubles of various video formats but I wish those companies luck going after each and every home video user. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
      - pdimitar 3y ago
        ...OK, you made me double-check. Used this instead: --format 'vcodec=av01/bestvideo*+bestaudio/best' And it started downloading `.webm` streams and not `.mp4` (only one video had an AV1 stream). Tested with several videos, quality is the same and some files are actually 40% smaller. ...Whoa. Thanks for making me double-check! Somebody down-voted you, I seem to recall seeing earlier, sorry about that. Your comment was valuable, though I'd definitely use more productive tone next time.
      - pdimitar 3y ago
        (Comment 3 / 3) And finally, after some more tests it turned out that some videos have almost 2x bigger .webm variants than .mp4 so I had to extend my yt-dlp config like so (only showing the prioritization options here, my previous full config is still there upthread): --format 'vcodec=av01/bestvideo*+bestaudio/best' --format-sort 'quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:av01,channels,acodec,abr,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id' --prefer-free-formats This: 1. Prioritizes AV1 (because it's gaining more and more hardware support, is very efficient and is not license-encumbered) 2. Prefers the free formats 3. ...but still uses a non-free format if it's smaller. Or at least that's what I believed in after testing on 7 videos that have obvious winners either way.

I always do yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best" Not sure if there is a better way, ideally I would just like it to always default to that.

nicolasp 3y ago

You can put these options in a config file and they will become the default: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#configuration https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#configur...

pdimitar 3y ago

As the sibling poster said, you can and should configure `yt-dlp`. Here are the contents of my config file: --restrict-filenames --output '%(title)s.%(ext)s' --ignore-errors --embed-subs --all-subs --sub-langs all,-live_chat --compat-options no-live-chat --convert-subs srt --format 'vcodec=av01/bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best' --convert-thumbnails jpg --embed-thumbnail --audio-quality 0 --add-metadata --xattrs --xattr-set-filesize --prefer-free-formats --geo-bypass --no-mark-watched --console-title --no-warnings --sponsorblock-remove all --compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley You can look them up on the README. It's quite a bit of work, granted, but to me it was very worth it.

__jonas 3y ago
Wow thank you for sharing! I might just use yours, looks almost exactly like what I would want. yt-dlp really is a great tool too, I do hope it keeps working for a long time
account42 3y ago
> ext=mp4 > prefer-free-formats Are you entirely sure you know what you are doing?
- pdimitar 3y ago
  Did you miss the "prefer" word? ;)
  - account42 3y ago
    I'll take that as a no.
    - pdimitar 3y ago
      I am half-aware of the licensing troubles of various video formats but I wish those companies luck going after each and every home video user. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    - pdimitar 3y ago
      ...OK, you made me double-check. Used this instead: --format 'vcodec=av01/bestvideo*+bestaudio/best' And it started downloading `.webm` streams and not `.mp4` (only one video had an AV1 stream). Tested with several videos, quality is the same and some files are actually 40% smaller. ...Whoa. Thanks for making me double-check! Somebody down-voted you, I seem to recall seeing earlier, sorry about that. Your comment was valuable, though I'd definitely use more productive tone next time.
    - pdimitar 3y ago
      (Comment 3 / 3) And finally, after some more tests it turned out that some videos have almost 2x bigger .webm variants than .mp4 so I had to extend my yt-dlp config like so (only showing the prioritization options here, my previous full config is still there upthread): --format 'vcodec=av01/bestvideo*+bestaudio/best' --format-sort 'quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:av01,channels,acodec,abr,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id' --prefer-free-formats This: 1. Prioritizes AV1 (because it's gaining more and more hardware support, is very efficient and is not license-encumbered) 2. Prefers the free formats 3. ...but still uses a non-free format if it's smaller. Or at least that's what I believed in after testing on 7 videos that have obvious winners either way.