Windows PowerShell / CMD  ·  Copy and paste  ·  Updated 2026

yt-dlp Commands Cheatsheet for Windows

Every common yt-dlp command in one place. Copy and paste directly into PowerShell or CMD. Replace URL with your video or playlist link.

This is a complete reference of the most useful yt-dlp commands for Windows, grouped by task: basic downloads, quality and format selection, MP3 and audio extraction, playlists and channels, subtitles, output filename templates, and advanced options like cookies and parallel downloads. Every command works in PowerShell or CMD — copy it, replace "URL" with your video or playlist link, and run it. For 4K/8K merging and audio conversion, make sure FFmpeg is in the same folder as yt-dlp.exe.

Basics

Essential yt-dlp commands

Download a video — best available quality
yt-dlp "URL"
Force best video + best audio merge (requires FFmpeg)
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" "URL"
Check installed version
yt-dlp --version
Update to the latest release
yt-dlp -U
List all available formats for a video
yt-dlp -F "URL"
Dry run — show what would be downloaded without downloading
yt-dlp --simulate "URL"

Quality & format selection

Format and resolution commands

Cap at 1080p
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best" "URL"
Force 4K (2160p) if available
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height>=2160]+bestaudio/best" "URL"
Prefer H.264/MP4 — maximum compatibility
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4][vcodec*=h264]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]" "URL"
Prefer AV1 → VP9 → fallback
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[vcodec^=av01]/bestvideo[vcodec^=vp9]/bestvideo+bestaudio/best" "URL"

Audio & MP3

Audio extraction and conversion

Convert to MP3 — best quality with artwork and tags
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata "URL"
Keep original audio without re-encoding (best actual quality)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format best "URL"
Convert playlist to MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata --yes-playlist -o "%(playlist_index)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"
Batch from text file (one URL per line)
yt-dlp -a links.txt -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0

Playlists & channels

Playlist and channel commands

Download entire playlist — keep order in filenames
yt-dlp --yes-playlist -o "%(playlist_index)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"
Download specific items only
yt-dlp --playlist-items 1,5,10-12 "PLAYLIST_URL"
Resume + skip already downloaded
yt-dlp --continue --download-archive downloaded.txt "PLAYLIST_URL"
Download entire channel
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos" -o "%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s"

Subtitles

Subtitle download commands

Download subtitles as separate SRT files
yt-dlp --write-sub --write-auto-sub --sub-langs en --sub-format srt "URL"
Embed subtitles into MKV
yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b" --write-auto-sub --sub-langs "en,*" --embed-subs --merge-output-format mkv "URL"
Subtitles only — no video download
yt-dlp --write-sub --write-auto-sub --sub-langs en --skip-download "URL"

Output templates

Filenames and folder organisation

Video title as filename
-o "C:/Videos/%(title)s.%(ext)s"
One folder per playlist, numbered files
-o "C:/Videos/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s"
Music library — artist/channel subfolder
-o "C:/Music/%(artist,channel)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s"
Date-based naming for channels
-o "C:/Videos/%(channel)s/%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s"

Common template variables:

%(title)s
Video title
%(ext)s
File extension
%(id)s
Video ID
%(upload_date)s
Upload date (YYYYMMDD)
%(channel)s
Channel name
%(playlist_index)02d
Zero-padded track #

Advanced

Performance, cookies and metadata

Parallel fragment downloads (faster on good connections)
-N 4
Rate limit (avoid throttling)
--limit-rate 5M
Retry on failures
--retries 10 --fragment-retries 10
Pass browser cookies (for private or age-restricted content)
--cookies-from-browser chrome
Embed thumbnail and metadata
--embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata
Only new videos from the last 30 days
--dateafter today-30days