Command-Line Interface¶

Example¶

# Player options
player=mpv --cache 2048
player-no-close

Examples¶

Have a look at the list of plugins, or check the --plugins option to see the name of each built-in plugin.

Supported streaming protocols¶

1(1,2)

supports local files using the file:// protocol

2

Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP

Positional arguments¶

URL¶

A URL to attempt to extract streams from.

Usually, the protocol of http(s) URLs can be omitted (https://), depending on the implementation of the plugin being used.

Alternatively, the URL can also be specified by using the --url option.

STREAM¶

Stream to play.

Use best or worst for selecting the highest or lowest available quality.

Fallback streams can be specified by using a comma-separated list:

"720p,480p,best"

If no stream is specified and --default-stream is not used, then a list of available streams will be printed.

General options¶

-h¶

--help¶

Show this help message and exit.

-V¶

--version¶

Show version number and exit.

--plugins¶

Print a list of all currently installed plugins.

--plugin-dirs DIRECTORY¶

Attempts to load plugins from these directories.

Multiple directories can be used by separating them with a comma.

--can-handle-url URL¶

Check if Streamlink has a plugin that can handle the specified URL.

Returns status code 1 for false and 0 for true.

Useful for external scripting.

--can-handle-url-no-redirect URL¶

Same as --can-handle-url but without following redirects when looking up the URL.

--config FILENAME¶

Load options from this config file.

Can be repeated to load multiple files, in which case the options are merged on top of each other where the last config has highest priority.

-l LEVEL¶

--loglevel LEVEL¶

Set the log message threshold.

Valid levels are: none, error, warning, info, debug, trace

--logfile FILE¶

Append log output to FILE instead of writing to stdout/stderr.

User prompts and download progress won't be written to FILE.

A value of - (dash) will set the file name to an ISO8601-like string and will choose the following default log directories.

Windows:

%TEMP%\streamlink\logs

macOS:

${HOME}/Library/logs/streamlink

Linux/BSD:

${XDG_STATE_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/state}/streamlink/logs

-Q¶

--quiet¶

Hide all log output.

Alias for --loglevel none.

-j¶

--json¶

Output JSON representations instead of the normal text output.

Useful for external scripting.

--auto-version-check {yes,true,1,on,no,false,0,off}¶

Enable or disable the automatic check for a new version of Streamlink.

Default is: "no".

--version-check¶

Runs a version check and exits.

--locale LOCALE¶

The preferred locale setting, for selecting the preferred subtitle and audio language.

The locale is formatted as [language_code]_[country_code], eg. en_US or es_ES.

Default is: system locale.

--interface INTERFACE¶

Set the network interface.

-4¶

--ipv4¶

Resolve address names to IPv4 only. This option overrides --ipv6.

-6¶

--ipv6¶

Resolve address names to IPv6 only. This option overrides --ipv4.

Player options¶

-p COMMAND¶

--player COMMAND¶

Player to feed stream data to. By default, VLC will be used if it can be found in its default location.

This is a shell-like syntax to support using a specific player:

streamlink --player=vlc <url> [stream]

Absolute or relative paths can also be passed via this option in the event the player's executable can not be resolved:

streamlink --player=/path/to/vlc <url> [stream]
streamlink --player=./vlc-player/vlc <url> [stream]

To use a player that is located in a path with spaces you must quote the parameter or its value:

streamlink "--player=/path/with spaces/vlc" <url> [stream]
streamlink --player "C:\path\with spaces\mpc-hc64.exe" <url> [stream]

Options may also be passed to the player. For example:

streamlink --player "vlc --file-caching=5000" <url> [stream]

As an alternative to this, see the --player-args parameter, which does not log any custom player arguments.

-a ARGUMENTS¶

--player-args ARGUMENTS¶

This option allows you to customize the default arguments which are put together with the value of --player to create a command to execute.

It's usually enough to only use --player instead of this unless you need to add arguments after the player's input argument or if you don't want any of the player arguments to be logged.

The value can contain formatting variables surrounded by curly braces, { and }. If you need to include a brace character, it can be escaped by doubling, e.g. {{ and }}.

Formatting variables available:

{playerinput}

This is the input that the player will use. For standard input (stdin), it is - (dash), but it can also be a URL, depending on the options used.

{filename}

The old fallback variable name with the same functionality.

Example:

streamlink -p vlc -a "--play-and-exit {playerinput}" <url> [stream]

Note

When neither of the variables are found, {playerinput} will be appended to the whole parameter value, to ensure that the player always receives an input argument.

-v¶

--verbose-player¶

Allow the player to display its console output.

-n¶

--player-fifo¶

--fifo¶

Make the player read the stream through a named pipe instead of the stdin pipe.

--player-http¶

Make the player read the stream through HTTP instead of the stdin pipe.

--player-continuous-http¶

Make the player read the stream through HTTP, but unlike --player-http it will continuously try to open the stream if the player requests it.

This makes it possible to handle stream disconnects if your player is capable of reconnecting to a HTTP stream. This is usually done by setting your player to a "repeat mode".

--player-external-http¶

Serve stream data through HTTP without running any player. This is useful to allow external devices like smartphones or streaming boxes to watch streams they wouldn't be able to otherwise.

The default behavior is similar to the --player-continuous-http option, but no player program will be started, and the server will listen on all available connections instead of just in the local (loopback) interface.

Optionally, the --player-external-http-continuous option allows for disabling the continuous run-mode, so that Streamlink will stop when the stream ends.

The URLs that can be used to access the stream will be printed to the console, and the server can be interrupted using CTRL-C.

--player-external-http-continuous {yes,true,1,on,no,false,0,off}¶

Set the run-mode of --player-external-http to continuous or non-continuous.

In the continuous run-mode, Streamlink will keep running after the stream has ended and will wait for the next HTTP request being made unless it gets shut down via CTRL-C.

If set to non-continuous, Streamlink will stop once the stream has ended.

Default is: true.

--player-external-http-port PORT¶

A fixed port to use for the external HTTP server if that mode is enabled. Omit or set to 0 to use a random high ( >1024) port.

--player-passthrough TYPES¶

A comma-delimited list of stream types to pass to the player as a URL to let it handle the transport of the stream instead.

Stream types that can be converted into a playable URL are:

• hls

• http

• rtmp

Make sure your player can handle the stream type when using this.

--player-no-close¶

By default Streamlink will close the player when the stream ends. This is to avoid "dead" GUI players lingering after a stream ends.

It does however have the side-effect of sometimes closing a player before it has played back all of its cached data.

This option will instead let the player decide when to exit.

-t TITLE¶

--title TITLE¶

Change the title of the video player's window.

Please see the "Metadata variables" section of Streamlink's CLI documentation for all available metadata variables.

This option is only supported for the following players: mpv, potplayer, vlc

VLC specific information:

VLC does support special formatting variables on its own: https://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Format_String/

These variables are accessible in the --title option by adding a backslash in front of the dollar sign which VLC uses as its formatting character.

For example, to put the current date in your VLC window title, the string \\$A could be inserted inside the --title string.

Example:

streamlink -p mpv --title "{author} - {category} - {title}" <URL> [STREAM]

File output options¶

-o FILENAME¶

--output FILENAME¶

Write stream data to FILENAME instead of playing it. If FILENAME is set to - (dash), then the stream data will be written to stdout, similar to the --stdout argument.

Non-existent directories and subdirectories will be created if they do not exist, if filesystem permissions allow.

You will be prompted if the file already exists.

Please see the "Metadata variables" section of Streamlink's CLI documentation for all available metadata variables.

Unsupported characters in substituted variables will be replaced with an underscore.

Example:

streamlink --output "~/recordings/{author}/{category}/{id}-{time:%Y%m%d%H%M%S}.ts" <URL> [STREAM]

-f¶

--force¶

When using -o or -r, always write to file even if it already exists (overwrite).

--force-progress¶

When using -o or -r, show the download progress bar even if there is no terminal.

-O¶

--stdout¶

Write stream data to stdout instead of playing it.

-r FILENAME¶

--record FILENAME¶

Open the stream in the player, while at the same time writing it to FILENAME. If FILENAME is set to - (dash), then the stream data will be written to stdout, similar to the --stdout argument, while still opening the player.

Non-existent directories and subdirectories will be created if they do not exist, if filesystem permissions allow.

You will be prompted if the file already exists.

Please see the "Metadata variables" section of Streamlink's CLI documentation for all available metadata variables.

Unsupported characters in substituted variables will be replaced with an underscore.

Example:

streamlink --record "~/recordings/{author}/{category}/{id}-{time:%Y%m%d%H%M%S}.ts" <URL> [STREAM]

-R FILENAME¶

--record-and-pipe FILENAME¶

Write stream data to stdout, while at the same time writing it to FILENAME.

Non-existent directories and subdirectories will be created if they do not exist, if filesystem permissions allow.

You will be prompted if the file already exists.

Please see the "Metadata variables" section of Streamlink's CLI documentation for all available metadata variables.

Unsupported characters in substituted variables will be replaced with an underscore.

Example:

streamlink --record-and-pipe "~/recordings/{author}/{category}/{id}-{time:%Y%m%d%H%M%S}.ts" <URL> [STREAM]

--fs-safe-rules¶

The rules used to make formatting variables filesystem-safe are chosen automatically according to the type of system in use. This overrides the automatic detection.

Intended for use when Streamlink is running on a UNIX-like OS but writing to Windows filesystems such as NTFS; USB devices using VFAT or exFAT; CIFS shares that are enforcing Windows filename limitations, etc.

These characters are replaced with an underscore for the rules in use:

• POSIX: \\x00-\\x1F /

• Windows: \\x00-\\x1F \\x7F " * / : < > ? \\ |

Stream options¶

--url URL¶

A URL to attempt to extract streams from.

Usually, the protocol of http(s) URLs can be omitted (https://), depending on the implementation of the plugin being used.

This is an alternative to setting the URL using a positional argument and can be useful if set in a config file.

--default-stream STREAM¶

Stream to play.

Use best or worst for selecting the highest or lowest available quality.

Fallback streams can be specified by using a comma-separated list:

"720p,480p,best"

This is an alternative to setting the stream using a positional argument and can be useful if set in a config file.

--stream-url¶

If possible, translate the resolved stream to a URL and print it.

--retry-streams DELAY¶

Retry fetching the list of available streams until streams are found while waiting DELAY second(s) between each attempt. If unset, only one attempt will be made to fetch the list of streams available.

The number of fetch retry attempts can be capped with --retry-max.

--retry-max COUNT¶

When using --retry-streams, stop retrying the fetch after COUNT retry attempt(s). Fetch will retry infinitely if COUNT is zero or unset.

If --retry-max is set without setting --retry-streams, the delay between retries will default to 1 second.

--retry-open ATTEMPTS¶

After a successful fetch, try ATTEMPTS time(s) to open the stream until giving up.

Default is: 1.

--stream-types TYPES¶

--stream-priority TYPES¶

A comma-delimited list of stream types to allow.

The order will be used to separate streams when there are multiple streams with the same name but different stream types. Any stream type not listed will be omitted from the available streams list. An * (asterisk) can be used as a wildcard to match any other type of stream, eg. muxed-stream.

Default is: "rtmp,hls,http,*".

--stream-sorting-excludes STREAMS¶

Fine tune the best and worst stream name synonyms by excluding unwanted streams.

If all of the available streams get excluded, best and worst will become inaccessible and new special stream synonyms best-unfiltered and worst-unfiltered can be used as a fallback selection method.

Uses a filter expression in the format:

[operator]<value>

Valid operators are >, >=, < and <=. If no operator is specified then equality is tested.

For example this will exclude streams ranked higher than "480p":

--stream-sorting-excludes ">480p"

Multiple filters can be used by separating each expression with a comma.

For example this will exclude streams from two quality types:

--stream-sorting-excludes ">480p,>medium"

Stream transport options¶

--ringbuffer-size SIZE¶

The maximum size of the ringbuffer. Mega- or kilobytes can be specified via the M or K suffix respectively.

The ringbuffer is used as a temporary storage between the stream and the player. This allows Streamlink to download the stream faster than the player which reads the data from the ringbuffer.

The smaller the size of the ringbuffer, the higher the chance of the player buffering if the download speed decreases, and the higher the size, the more data can be use as a storage to recover from volatile download speeds.

Most players have their own additional cache and will read the ringbuffer's content as soon as data is available. If the player stops reading data while playback is paused, Streamlink will continue to download the stream in the background as long as the ringbuffer doesn't get full.

Default is: "16M".

Note

A smaller size is recommended on lower end systems (such as Raspberry Pi) when playing stream types that require some extra processing to avoid unnecessary background processing.

--stream-segment-attempts ATTEMPTS¶

How many attempts should be done to download each segment before giving up.

This applies to all different kinds of segmented stream types, such as DASH, HLS, etc.

Default is: 3.

--stream-segment-threads THREADS¶

The size of the thread pool used to download segments. Minimum value is 1 and maximum is 10.

This applies to all different kinds of segmented stream types, such as DASH, HLS, etc.

Default is: 1.

--stream-segment-timeout TIMEOUT¶

Segment connect and read timeout.

This applies to all different kinds of segmented stream types, such as DASH, HLS, etc.

Default is: 10.0.

--stream-timeout TIMEOUT¶

Timeout for reading data from streams.

This applies to all different kinds of stream types, such as DASH, HLS, HTTP, RTMP, etc.

Default is: 60.0.

--mux-subtitles¶

Automatically mux available subtitles into the output stream.

Needs to be supported by the used plugin.

Supported plugins: funimationnow, rtve, svtplay, vimeo

HTTP options¶

--http-proxy HTTP_PROXY¶

A HTTP proxy to use for all HTTP and HTTPS requests, including WebSocket connections.

Example: --http-proxy "http://hostname:port/"

--http-cookie KEY=VALUE¶

A cookie to add to each HTTP request.

Can be repeated to add multiple cookies.

--http-header KEY=VALUE¶

A header to add to each HTTP request.

Can be repeated to add multiple headers.

--http-query-param KEY=VALUE¶

A query parameter to add to each HTTP request.

Can be repeated to add multiple query parameters.

--http-ignore-env¶

Ignore HTTP settings set in the environment such as environment variables (HTTP_PROXY, etc) or ~/.netrc authentication.

--http-no-ssl-verify¶

Don't attempt to verify SSL certificates.

Usually a bad idea, only use this if you know what you're doing.

--http-disable-dh¶

Disable Diffie Hellman key exchange

Usually a bad idea, only use this if you know what you're doing.

--http-ssl-cert FILENAME¶

SSL certificate to use.

Expects a .pem file.

--http-ssl-cert-crt-key CRT_FILENAME KEY_FILENAME¶

SSL certificate to use.

Expects a .crt and a .key file.

--http-timeout TIMEOUT¶

General timeout used by all HTTP requests except the ones covered by other options.

Default is: 20.0.

Plugin options¶