yt-dlp Command Generator for Instagram

Build a yt-dlp command for Instagram posts and reels. Cookies are switched on by default because almost nothing works without them.

Video, playlist or channel URL

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

Your command

yt-dlp --merge-output-format mp4 --no-playlist --cookies-from-browser chrome https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxxxxxxxxxx/

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.
Container --merge-output-format The file type separate video and audio streams are merged into.
File name template -o Field names go in %(...)s. Slashes create folders.

Instagram needs a session

Instagram serves very little to logged-out requests, so --cookies-from-browser is effectively mandatory rather than optional. Close the browser before running the command: Chrome and Edge lock their cookie database while open.

A carousel is exposed as a playlist, so set playlist handling to the whole playlist to get every item. Stories need a session that follows the account and disappear after 24 hours.

Instagram increasingly distrusts automated access, and a session that downloads too much too fast gets asked to log in again — the tell is a command that worked yesterday returning a login page today. Use a dedicated account rather than your main one, keep its cookies fresh by logging in normally now and then, and accept that an account used this way is occasionally flagged no matter how carefully the command is written. That is the cost of the platform, not a bug in yt-dlp.

Posts, reels and highlights resolve through the same extractor but show different things to different sessions. Reels from accounts you follow download fine; explore-page reels often refuse for a session that has never engaged with that content. Highlights — the story circles pinned to a profile — each come down as a playlist of their stories. IGTV is retired: old links sometimes still resolve, but nothing new uses it.

Instagram rate-limits harder than any other platform yt-dlp regularly faces. Parallel fragments make things worse, not better; one item at a time with pauses between runs is the pattern that survives. A multi-item run that fails halfway is normal — the archive file plus keep-going-on-errors turns the retry into a resumption instead of a restart, which matters because by the time the run finishes, the earliest items' CDN links have usually expired and a full re-run would re-fetch pages rather than media.

What cannot be recovered: posts from private accounts you do not follow, stories past their twenty-four hours, and anything deleted before you ran the command. CDN links inside a fetched page expire quickly, so a media URL that worked an hour ago may refuse now — re-fetch the post page rather than retrying the old link. That expiry is also the argument for downloading soon rather than eventually: Instagram makes no promise to keep media reachable, and it keeps it.

Frequently asked questions

› Why does Instagram fail without cookies?

Instagram serves almost nothing to logged-out requests. --cookies-from-browser is effectively required, and the session has to belong to an account that can see the post.

› Can I download stories or reels?

Reels behave like normal posts. Stories require a logged-in session that follows the account, and expire after 24 hours.

› How do I get every item from a carousel post?

Set playlist handling to the whole playlist — yt-dlp treats a multi-item post as a playlist.