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Created May 27, 2022 17:15
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Youtube Format IDs
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youtube_formats.md

Last updated: April 2021

Also known as itag or format codes and way back they could be specified with the fmt parameter (e.g. &fmt=22). Depending on the age and/or popularity of the video, not all formats will be available.

DASH video

Resolution AV1 HFR High AV1 HFR AV1 VP9.2 HDR HFR VP9 HFR VP9 H.264 HFR H.264
MP4 MP4 MP4 WebM WebM WebM MP4 MP4
4320p 402/571 272 138
2160p 701 401 337 315 (313) (305) (266)
1440p 700 400 336 308 (271) (304) (264)
1080p 699 399 335 303 (248) 299 (137)
720p 698 398 334 302 247 298 136
480p 697 397 333 244 135
360p 696 396 332 243 134
240p 695 395 331 242 133
144p 694 394 330 278 160
  • HFR stands for "High Framerate", which means up to 60 FPS, whereas non-HFR is limited to 30 FPS
  • Non-HFR 1080p+ H.264 and VP9 variants are not provided for HFR videos anymore
  • Same IDs are reused for 360° videos
  • 1440p+ H.264 variants are only provided for 360° videos anymore
  • At the moment, AV1 variants are only provided for popular videos
  • All AV1 variants can be HDR (no separate non-HDR AV1 variants are offered)
  • AV1 HFR High: High refers to the bitrate. These variants have ~3-4 times the bitrate of their normal counterparts. Additional side effect is providing AV1 HFR variants for low resolutions (<=480p). These variants are rare even among videos with AV1 variants. Found on this video.
  • AV1 HFR 4320p: Format 571 has roughly 50% higher bitrate than 402. Sometimes only one of them is offered, sometimes both. Can be seen on this video.

DASH audio

Code Container Audio Codec Audio Bitrate Channels Still offered?
139 MP4 AAC (HE v1) 48 Kbps Stereo (2) Rarely, YT Music
140 MP4 AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes, YT Music
(141) MP4 AAC (LC) 256 Kbps Stereo (2) No, YT Music*
249 WebM Opus (VBR) ~50 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes
250 WebM Opus (VBR) ~70 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes
251 WebM Opus (VBR) <=160 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes
256 MP4 AAC (HE v1) 192 Kbps Surround (5.1) Rarely
258 MP4 AAC (LC) 384 Kbps Surround (5.1) Rarely
327 MP4 AAC (LC) 256 Kbps Surround (5.1) ?*
338 WebM Opus (VBR) ~480 Kbps (?) Quadraphonic (4) ?*
  • Surround audio can be found on some demo videos
  • YT Music: These formats are offered on Youtube Music. Format 141 is only available to Premium users with High Quality option
  • Format 327, 338: These have been found on this Stereo 3D video

Legacy (non-DASH)

Code Container Video Codec Video Res. Audio Codec Audio Bitrate Channels Still offered?
18 MP4 H.264 (Baseline, L3.0) 360p AAC (LC) 96 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes, GDrive
(59) MP4 H.264 (Main, L3.1) 480p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No, GDrive
22 MP4 H.264 (High, L3.1) 720p AAC (LC) 192 Kbps Stereo (2) Mostly*, GDrive
(37) MP4 H.264 (High, L4.0) 1080p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No, GDrive
  • Always limited to 30 FPS
  • GDrive: These formats are offered for Google Drive video previews. Note that the video player on GDrive displays incorrect codecs on rightclick -> stats
  • Format 22: Available for most videos, except music and music videos (not limited to official music channels!)

Livestreams (non-DASH)

Code Container Video Codec Video Res. Audio Codec Audio Bitrate Still offered?
91 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (Baseline, L1.1) 144p AAC (HE v1) 48 Kbps Yes
92 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (Main, L2.1) 240p AAC (HE v1) 48 Kbps Yes
93 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (Main, L3.0) 360p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Yes
94 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (Main, L3.1) 480p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Yes
95 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (Main, L3.1) 720p AAC (LC) 256 Kbps Yes
96 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (High, L4.0) 1080p AAC (LC) 256 Kbps Yes
300 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (Main, L3.2) HFR 720p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Yes
301 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (High, L4.2) HFR 1080p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Yes
  • Non-HFR variants are limited to 30 FPS, HFR to 60 FPS
  • Non-HFR variants for 720p and 1080p may not be offered if HFR is available
  • Livestreams are also offered through DASH video (H.264, VP9) and DASH audio (AAC) streams

Template youtube-dl formats

For archiving videos: Only choose combinations that fit WebM (VP9+Opus) or MP4 (H.264+AAC)

bestvideo[ext=webm]+251/bestvideo[ext=mp4]+(258/256/140)/bestvideo[ext=webm]+(250/249)/best

For archiving audio: Choose any format that's best

AAC Surround 384 / Opus 160 / AAC 192 / AAC Surround 192 / AAC 128 / Opus 70 / AAC 96 / Opus 50 / AAC 48

258/251/22/256/140/250/18/249/139

For streaming videos: Allow any combination

bestvideo+bestaudio/best

youtube-dl usage example

Archive videos

youtube-dl --download-archive youtube-dl.list --ignore-errors --write-info-json --add-metadata --write-sub --sub-lang en,de,ja --write-thumbnail --embed-subs -f "<format>" "<URL>"

Archive audio

youtube-dl --download-archive youtube-dl.list --ignore-errors --write-info-json --add-metadata --write-sub --sub-lang en,de,ja --write-thumbnail --embed-thumbnail --extract-audio -f "<format>" "<URL>"
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