yt-dlp Command Generator for Reddit

Build a yt-dlp command for Reddit videos — including the merge step that gives them sound.

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 --embed-metadata https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/xxxxxx/

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

Container --merge-output-format The file type separate video and audio streams are merged into.
Maximum quality -f Caps the height. yt-dlp still picks the best stream at or below it.

Why Reddit videos come out silent

Reddit stores video and audio as separate files. If ffmpeg is missing, yt-dlp downloads the video track and nothing merges the audio in — the file plays, silently, and no error explains why.

Install ffmpeg and the preset here handles the rest. Gallery posts are treated as playlists, so whole-playlist handling gets every item.

The v.redd.it host is where most trouble starts. A direct v.redd.it link downloads cleanly, but the same video found through a subreddit feed or an old.reddit.com page arrives wrapped in a Reddit page URL, and older yt-dlp releases sometimes fail to unwrap it. Update first — yt-dlp -U — before changing any other setting: the extractors for Reddit in particular have been reworked several times, and a three-month-old binary is older than the current shape of the site.

Galleries are the other half. Reddit bundles image galleries with a video inside them, and yt-dlp presents that as a playlist of separate items — images one at a time, the video as its own entry. If you only wanted the video, turn playlists off and yt-dlp takes just the video; if you want everything, keep whole-playlist handling on and add the archive file so a re-run picks up only the items that failed the first time.

Quarantined and NSFW subreddits need cookies — the same browser-cookies option as anywhere else — because Reddit withholds the media URL from anonymous requests. Deleted posts are the one thing no option can reach: once a post is removed, the media CDN entry goes with it, and the mirrors that used to exist are long gone. What still works is the Wayback Machine for the page itself, though that is outside what yt-dlp fetches.

Reddit re-encodes everything it hosts, and the ceiling is low: v.redd.it tops out at 720p, so a height cap of 1080p finds nothing above 720p and returns the 720p file — that is the platform's limit, not a failed download. Audio-only is worth knowing too: -x on a Reddit video extracts the soundtrack the same as anywhere else, which is the fastest way to save just the audio from a post whose video you do not need.

Frequently asked questions

› Why does my Reddit video have no sound?

Reddit stores video and audio separately, so they have to be merged — which needs ffmpeg. A silent file almost always means ffmpeg is missing.

› Do NSFW posts work?

They need a logged-in session with the over-18 setting enabled. Supply it with --cookies-from-browser.

› Can I download a whole gallery post?

Set playlist handling to the whole playlist; yt-dlp treats a gallery as a playlist.