yt-dlp Command Generator for Facebook

Build a yt-dlp command for Facebook videos, including the cookie options most of them need.

Video, playlist or channel URL

Optional. Leave it empty and the command ends with URL for you to fill in.

Your command

yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=1080]+ba/b[height<=1080]' --merge-output-format mp4 --no-playlist --cookies-from-browser chrome 'https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1234567890'

Basics

What do you want

Video Audio only

Audio-only extracts the soundtrack and drops the video stream.

Video and quality

Maximum quality -f

Caps the height. yt-dlp still picks the best stream at or below it.

Container --merge-output-format needs ffmpeg

The file type separate video and audio streams are merged into.

Advanced options (3)

Custom format selector -f

Overrides the quality dropdown. For people who already know the format syntax.

Remux into --remux-video needs ffmpeg

Repackages the streams without re-encoding. Fast and lossless.

Re-encode into --recode-video needs ffmpeg

Re-encodes the video. Slow and lossy — only when remuxing will not do.

Audio

Audio format --audio-format needs ffmpeg

The file the audio is converted to.

Audio quality --audio-quality needs ffmpeg

VBR gives the best size-to-quality ratio; fixed bitrates are more predictable.

Subtitles

Embedding puts them inside the video; saving writes a separate .srt next to it.

Subtitle languages --sub-langs

Comma separated. Use all for every available language.

Auto-generated subtitles --write-auto-subs Include machine-generated captions when no human ones exist.

Playlists and channels

Playlist handling

What to do when the URL belongs to both a video and a playlist.

Which items -I

Ranges and lists both work, for example 1-10,15 or -5::2 for every second item from the end.

Advanced options (1)

Archive file --download-archive

Records what has been downloaded so re-running skips it. The way to keep a channel in sync.

Sections and chapters

Advanced options (2)

Download only part of it --download-sections needs ffmpeg

A time range like *00:01:30-00:03:00, or a chapter name. The leading asterisk means it is a timestamp.

Split into chapters --split-chapters needs ffmpeg Writes one file per chapter instead of a single long one.

Metadata and artwork

Embed thumbnail --embed-thumbnail needs ffmpeg Uses the video thumbnail as cover art.

Embed metadata --embed-metadata needs ffmpeg Writes title, uploader and date into the file itself.

Embed chapters --embed-chapters needs ffmpeg Adds chapter markers your player can jump between.

Advanced options (3)

Save thumbnail file --write-thumbnail Writes the cover image next to the video.

Save description --write-description Writes the description to a .description file.

Save metadata JSON --write-info-json Writes everything yt-dlp knows about the video to a .info.json file.

SponsorBlock

Remove segments --sponsorblock-remove needs ffmpeg

Cuts community-marked segments out of the file using SponsorBlock data.

Advanced options (1)

Mark segments as chapters --sponsorblock-mark

Keeps the segments but marks them, so you can skip them yourself.

Files and folders

File name template -o

Field names go in %(...)s. Slashes create folders.

Safe (ASCII) file names --restrict-filenames Strips accents, spaces and anything a stubborn filesystem might reject.

Overwrite existing files --force-overwrites Replaces files that are already there.

Resume partial downloads -c Picks up where an interrupted download stopped.

Advanced options (4)

Download folder -P

Where files are written. Combine with the template above for subfolders.

Windows-safe names --windows-filenames Removes characters Windows refuses even when running elsewhere.

Trim names to --trim-filenames

Maximum file name length in characters.

Never overwrite -w Skips anything already downloaded.

Filters

Advanced options (5)

Uploaded after --dateafter

YYYYMMDD, or a relative date like now-1month.

Uploaded before --datebefore

YYYYMMDD, or a relative date.

Minimum size --min-filesize

Skips anything smaller. Accepts 5M, 500K and similar.

Maximum size --max-filesize

Skips anything larger.

Stop after --max-downloads

Number of files to download before stopping.

Network

Speed limit -r

For example 2M or 500K. Useful when you need the rest of your bandwidth.

Advanced options (5)

Parallel fragments -N

Speeds up fragmented streams. Four is a sensible starting point.

Retries -R

How many times to retry a failed piece. infinite is allowed.

Proxy --proxy

HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS proxy URL.

Bypass geo-restriction --geo-bypass Fakes the request origin. Works on some sites, not all.

Impersonate a browser --impersonate

Makes requests look like a real browser. The usual fix for sudden 403 errors.

Cookies from browser --cookies-from-browser

Reads your logged-in session directly. Needed for private, age-restricted or members-only content.

Advanced options (1)

Cookies file --cookies

A Netscape-format cookies.txt exported from your browser.

Live streams

Advanced options (2)

Record from the start --live-from-start Starts a live stream from the beginning instead of the current moment.

Wait for the stream --wait-for-video

Polls until a scheduled stream begins. MIN-MAX seconds between checks.

Workarounds

Advanced options (3)

User agent --user-agent deprecated

Deprecated in favour of --add-headers. Kept because plenty of older guides still use it.

Referer --referer deprecated

Deprecated in favour of --add-headers.

Extractor arguments --extractor-args

Site-specific switches, for example youtube:player_client=web.

Output and debugging

List formats only -F Prints the available formats and exits without downloading.

Advanced options (2)

Keep going on errors -i Skips items that fail instead of stopping. Essential for large playlists.

Simulate -s Does everything except write the file.

Reset

The options that matter here

Cookies from browser --cookies-from-browser Reads your logged-in session directly. Needed for private, age-restricted or members-only content.
Maximum quality -f Caps the height. yt-dlp still picks the best stream at or below it.

Notes for Facebook

Much of Facebook is unavailable to logged-out requests, and higher-quality renditions are frequently offered only to a signed-in session. Supplying cookies fixes both at once.

If the result looks lower quality than what you saw in the browser, list the formats first — the ladder available to your session is often shorter than the one the web player uses.

Facebook URLs come in more shapes than any other platform yt-dlp handles: /watch/?v=…, /reel/…, group posts, page videos and fb.watch short links. They all land in the same extractor, but the page-wrapped ones sometimes need the video unrolled first. The permalink is the reliable form — right-click the post's timestamp and copy that address; it points straight at the media page rather than at a feed that happens to contain it.

The same video can exist on a page, in a group and on a profile as three separate entries, and the quality ladder differs between them: page uploads usually carry the highest rendition, re-shares the lowest. Group videos need cookies from an account that is a member of that group — a session that cannot see the post cannot download it, and no option changes that. Marketplace listings are a different system yt-dlp does not support at all.

Live replays behave like ordinary videos once the broadcast ends, so download them with the normal options — with one caveat: a replay is not a live stream, so record-from-the-start does not apply, and the beginning of the file is whatever Facebook kept. If a replay starts mid-event, the earlier part was never retained as video, and no setting reaches media the platform never stored.

Two things genuinely do not work, and it is cheaper to say so than to let anyone spend an evening on them: Marketplace listings, and stories that have already expired. Everything else that fails usually fails on access rather than format — which is why cookies are the first thing to check and -F the second. If formats appear but every rung is low, that is the ladder your session is being offered; a different account sometimes sees more, but no flag invents a higher rendition than the platform serves.

Frequently asked questions

› Can yt-dlp download private Facebook videos?

Only ones your account can already see, using --cookies-from-browser. There is no way around a permission you do not have.

› Facebook returns an error without cookies.

Much of Facebook is unavailable to logged-out requests. Supply your session with --cookies-from-browser chrome, with the browser closed.

› Why is the quality lower than in the browser?

Facebook offers higher renditions only to some sessions. Run -F to see what is actually available for that URL, and supply cookies if the list is short.