twitch-dl/docs/commands/download.md

twitch-dl download

Download a video or clip.

USAGE

twitch-dl download <video> [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

ARGUMENTS

<video>

Video ID, clip slug, or URL

FLAGS

-k, --keep	Don't delete downloaded VODs and playlists after merging.
--no-join	Don't run ffmpeg to join the downloaded vods, implies --keep.
--overwrite	Overwrite the target file if it already exists without prompting.

OPTIONS

-w, --max-workers	Maximal number of threads for downloading vods concurrently (default 20)
-s, --start	Download video from this time (hh:mm or hh:mm:ss)
-e, --end	Download video up to this time (hh:mm or hh:mm:ss)
-f, --format	Video format to convert into, passed to ffmpeg as the target file extension. Defaults to mkv.
-q, --quality	Video quality, e.g. 720p. Set to 'source' to get best quality.
-a, --auth	Twitch authentication token needed for subscriber-only VODs. Can be found in the 'auth_token' cookie.
-o, --output	Output file name template. See docs for details.

Examples

Download a video by ID or URL:

twitch-dl download 221837124
twitch-dl download https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221837124

Specify video quality to download to prevent a prompt:

twitch-dl download -q 720p 221837124

Setting quality to source will download the best available quality:

twitch-dl download -q source 221837124

Setting quality to audio_only will download only audio:

twitch-dl download -q audio_only 221837124

Overriding the target file name

The target filename can be defined by passing the --output option followed by the desired file name, e.g. --output strim.mkv.

The filename uses Python format string syntax and may contain placeholders in curly braces which will be replaced with relevant information tied to the downloaded video, e.g. --output "{date}_{id}.{format}".

The supported placeholders are:

Placeholder	Description	Sample
{id}	Video ID	1255522958
{title}	Video title	Dark Souls 3 First playthrough
{title_slug}	Slugified video title	dark_souls_3_first_playthrough
{datetime}	Video date and time	2022-01-07T04:00:27Z
{date}	Video date	2022-01-07
{time}	Video time	04:00:27Z
{channel}	Channel name	KatLink
{channel_login}	Channel login	katlink
{format}	File extension, see --format	mkv
{game}	Game name	Dark Souls III
{game_slug}	Slugified game name	dark_souls_iii
{slug}	Clip slug (clips only)	AbrasivePlacidCatDxAbomb

A couple of examples:

Pattern	{date}_{id}_{channel_login}_{title_slug}.{format} (default)
Expands to	2022-01-07_1255522958_katlink_dark_souls_3_first_playthrough.mkv

Pattern	{channel} - {game} - {title}.{format}
Expands to	KatLink - Dark Souls III - Dark Souls 3 First playthrough.mkv