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.
| 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.
| 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
| 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!)
| 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
bestvideo[ext=webm]+251/bestvideo[ext=mp4]+(258/256/140)/bestvideo[ext=webm]+(250/249)/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
bestvideo+bestaudio/best
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>"
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>"
I did a little research on Youtube 360 videos.
https://gist.github.com/gtk2k/2aa7aa1a1c6beeb9f9829c7be335a08f