Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@MartinEesmaa
Forked from AgentOak/youtube_formats.md
Last active April 27, 2024 04:16
Show Gist options
  • Star 35 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 3 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save MartinEesmaa/2f4b261cb90a47e9c41ba115a011a4aa to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save MartinEesmaa/2f4b261cb90a47e9c41ba115a011a4aa to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Youtube Format IDs

Note: This is all almost full YouTube ID informations. Original owner goes to AgentOak, modified version by Martin Eesmaa.

See the credits and also special thanks in below.

Last updated: April 2024

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.

DASH video

Resolution AV1 HFR High AV1 HFR AV1 VP9.2 HDR HFR VP9 HFR VP9 H.264 HFR H.264 VP8
MP4 MP4 MP4 WebM WebM WebM MP4 MP4 WebM
4320p 702 402/571 272 138
2160p 701 401 337 315 (313) (305) (266)
1440p 700 400 336 308 (271) (304) (264)
1080p 699 399 335 303 248/616 299 137/216 170
720p 698 398 334 302/612 247 298 136 169
480p 697 397 333 244 135 168
360p 696 396 332 243 134 167
240p 695 395 331 242 133
144p 694 394 330 278/598 160/597
  • 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.
  • VP8 can be found this video.
  • At format 616, it is the only YouTube premium video format.

Duplicate video IDs

Those duplicate video IDs of m3u8 as Apple Native HLS are connected to common numbers, not rare numbers.

270 (m3u8) == 137 (https) are same video quality, but different protocol.

Thanks, dtlnor for explanation of equalation video IDs.

602 mp4   256x144     12    │ ~  9.28MiB    87k m3u8  │ vp09.00.10.08    87k video only
269 mp4   256x144     24    │ ~ 18.55MiB   175k m3u8  │ avc1.4D400C     175k video only
603 mp4   256x144     24    │ ~ 16.62MiB   156k m3u8  │ vp09.00.11.08   156k video only
229 mp4   426x240     24    │ ~ 34.72MiB   327k m3u8  │ avc1.4D4015     327k video only
604 mp4   426x240     24    │ ~ 30.72MiB   289k m3u8  │ vp09.00.20.08   289k video only
230 mp4   640x360     24    │ ~ 86.22MiB   812k m3u8  │ avc1.4D401E     812k video only
605 mp4   640x360     24    │ ~ 60.27MiB   567k m3u8  │ vp09.00.21.08   567k video only
231 mp4   854x480     24    │ ~144.25MiB  1358k m3u8  │ avc1.4D401E    1358k video only
606 mp4   854x480     24    │ ~ 98.31MiB   926k m3u8  │ vp09.00.30.08   926k video only
232 mp4   1280x720    24    │ ~280.39MiB  2640k m3u8  │ avc1.4D401F    2640k video only
609 mp4   1280x720    24    │ ~181.03MiB  1705k m3u8  │ vp09.00.31.08  1705k video only
311 mp4   1280x720    60    │ ~  1.14GiB  4842k m3u8  │ avc1.4D4020    4842k video only
270 mp4   1920x1080   24    │ ~498.55MiB  4694k m3u8  │ avc1.640028    4694k video only
614 mp4   1920x1080   24    │ ~312.21MiB  2940k m3u8  │ vp09.00.40.08  2940k video only
617 mp4   1920x1080   60    │ ~  1.52GiB  6443k m3u8  │ vp09.00.41.08  6443k video only
312 mp4   1920x1080   60    │ ~  1.89GiB  7987k m3u8  │ avc1.64002A    7987k video only
620 mp4   2560x1440   24    │ ~928.71MiB  8745k m3u8  │ vp09.00.50.08  8745k video only
623 mp4   2560x1440   60    │ ~  3.85GiB 16287k m3u8  │ vp09.00.50.08 16287k video only
625 mp4   3840x2160   24    │ ~  1.94GiB 18661k m3u8  │ vp09.00.50.08 18661k video only
628 mp4   3840x2160   60    │ ~  8.27GiB 35007k m3u8  │ vp09.00.51.08 35007k video only

Examples of two videos:

30 fps video

60 fps video

DASH audio

Code Container Audio Codec Audio Bitrate Channels Still offered?
139 MP4 AAC (HE v1) 48 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes, 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
325 MP4 DTSE (DTS Express) 384 Kbps Surround (5.1) Rarely*
327 MP4 AAC (LC) 256 Kbps Surround (5.1) ?*
328 MP4 EAC3 384 Kbps Surround (5.1) Rarely
338 WebM Opus (VBR) ~480 Kbps (?) Quadraphonic (4) ?*
380 MP4 AC3 384 Kbps Surround (5.1) Rarely
599 MP4 AAC (HE v1) 30 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes
600 WebM Opus (VBR) ~35 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes
774 WebM Opus (VBR) ~256 Kbps Stereo (2) Some, YT Music*
  • 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
  • Format 325: You can find out one video link here
  • Format 774 at YT Music: Some music have available high quality of Opus up to 256 kbps to Premium users, music link here

Legacy (non-DASH)

Code Container Video Codec Video Res. Audio Codec Audio Bitrate Channels Still offered?
5 FLV H.263 (Sorenson Spark) 240p (4:3) MP3 64 Kbps Mono (1) No
6 FLV H.263 (Sorenson Spark) 270p (4:3) MP3 64 Kbps Mono (1) No
13 3GP MPEG-4 (Simple, L0) 144p AAC (LC) Unknown Mono (1) No
17 3GP MPEG-4 (Simple, L0) 144p AAC (LC) 24 Kbps Mono (1) Yes*, old mobile phones
18 MP4 H.264 (Baseline, L3.0) 360p AAC (LC) 96 Kbps Stereo (2) Yes, GDrive
34 FLV H.264 (Main, L3.0) 360p AAC 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No
35 FLV H.264 (Main, L3.0) 480p AAC 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No
38 MP4 H.264 3072p AAC 192 Kbps Stereo (2) No
36 3GP MPEG-4 (Simple, L0) 144p AAC (LC) 24 Kbps Mono (1) Rarely, old mobile phones
(59) MP4 H.264 (Main, L3.1) 480p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No, GDrive
43 WebM VP8 360p Vorbis 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No
44 WebM VP8 480p Vorbis 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No
45 WebM VP8 720p Vorbis 192 Kbps Stereo (2) No
46 WebM VP8 1080p Vorbis 192 Kbps Stereo (2) No
78 MP4 H.264 480p AAC 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No
22 MP4 H.264 (High, L3.1) 720p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Stereo (2) Mostly*, GDrive
(37) MP4 H.264 (High, L4.0) 1080p AAC (LC) 128 Kbps Stereo (2) No, GDrive
  • Format 17: Allows for old mobile phones (eg. cell phones) to watch all videos. The video can have 7.5 & 12 fps only.
  • 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!)

Livestreams (non-DASH)

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) 128 Kbps Yes
96 MPEG-TS (HLS) H.264 (High, L4.0) 1080p AAC (LC) 128 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
  • Both audio codecs of MPEG-TS are limited sample rate to 44.1 Khz for streaming a live broadcast.

Template youtube-dl formats

For archiving videos: Only choose combinations that fit WebM (VP9+Opus) or MP4 (H.264+AAC)

bestvideo[ext=webm]+251/bestvideo[ext=mp4]+(258/256/140)/bestvideo[ext=webm]+(250/249)/best

For archiving audio: Choose any format that's 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

For streaming videos: Allow any combination

bestvideo+bestaudio/best

yt-dlp usage example

Archive videos

yt-dlp --download-archive yt-dlp.list --ignore-errors --write-info-json --add-metadata --write-sub --sub-lang en,de,ja --write-thumbnail --embed-subs -f "<format>" "<URL>"

Archive audio

yt-dlp --download-archive yt-dlp.list --ignore-errors --write-info-json --add-metadata --write-sub --sub-lang en,de,ja --write-thumbnail --embed-thumbnail --extract-audio -f "<format>" "<URL>"

Credits and special thanks

AgentOak (original owner) made YouTube list formats of video and audio ID especially with tips.

MartinEesmaa (forked owner) updated YouTube list formats for up to date.

Special thanks for finding/fixing by:

qzmtch for finding missing 616 format

dtlnor for little interesting explanation of duplicate formats same

r8420 for finding missing 612 format

Ciancy28 for finding high quality of Opus 256 kbps (format 774) in YT Music

joaquinito2070 for renaming youtube-dl to yt-dlp and fixing incorrect bitrates. Some commits were on it.

@qzmtch
Copy link

qzmtch commented Oct 3, 2023

there is 616 format here, you don't have it on your list
yt-dlp -F "GFz6KqZurFY"

@MartinEesmaa
Copy link
Author

there is 616 format here, you don't have it on your list
yt-dlp -F "GFz6KqZurFY"

Hi, @qzmtch!
I added format 616, thank you! :)

  • Martin Eesmaa

@dtlnor
Copy link

dtlnor commented Oct 30, 2023

hey, the list of "YouTube Premium video formats" are NOT YouTube Premium video format. It is just a different video id from m3u8 protocol. Only the 616 one is premium (which equals to http source's 356 (needs premium cookies)). The content of m3u8 source are identical to the http protocol. Like 270===137

@MartinEesmaa
Copy link
Author

Hi, @dtlnor. Thanks for giving me your information, I'll have a look later...

  • Martin Eesmaa

@ThreeDeeJay
Copy link

338 | WebM | Opus isn't really Quadraphonic/4.0 surround, but first order Ambisonics (3D audio encoded into 4 channels, useful to add verticality for VR/360 videos) and some also have 6 channels, where the extra 2 is head-locked stereo, for non-positional audio.
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6395969

@hanubeki
Copy link

RSS podcasts in YouTube Music has "Codecs: 15".
YouTube doesn't host these podcasts so 15 might means "Unknown / External".

@r8420
Copy link

r8420 commented Jan 25, 2024

Missing format 612 for High video quality of video only:
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=4026389,CODECS="vp09.00.40.08,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=1280x720,FRAME-RATE=60,VIDEO-RANGE=SDR,AUDIO="234",CLOSED-CAPTIONS=NONE
Example vid with this format: 3EoPDusNsoE

@MartinEesmaa
Copy link
Author

Hello, @r8420!
I added for format 612 to VP9 HFR in DASH video information.
Thank you!

Sincerely

  • Martin Eesmaa

@Prototaxis
Copy link

itag 15 is what google cloud services offer as the source file sometimes. Refer to this: https://gist.github.com/Sauerstoffdioxid/2a0206da9f44dde1fdfce290f38d2703

@Ciancy28
Copy link

format ID 774 webm audio is starting to roll out for music uploads, this seems to be 256 kbps Opus for ytm premium (which was previously mentioned here https://support.google.com/youtubemusic/answer/9076559?hl=en but not actually available), despite that, yt-dlp seems to download it just fine at the moment without any preimum cookies
https://youtu.be/1QWiYk3nnWk this song for example has it, seems to be available on <5% of ytm uploads so far, they're probably transcoding the whole library as we speak

@MartinEesmaa
Copy link
Author

Hello, @Ciancy28. The format of 774 audio of Opus 256kbps has been added to DASH audio and putted your example music link.
Thank you for providing this link. :)

  • Martin Eesmaa

@MartinEesmaa
Copy link
Author

@joaquinito2070, thanks for some fixes, I might have look for later why the old mobile phones that claimed no. :)

  • Martin Eesmaa

@morozg05
Copy link

I’m so glad, because I took a risk and opened my channel on YouTube, but alas, I didn’t have many likes, although there were views, I decided to contact the company and there is a service here https://promosoundgroup.net/collection/social-promotion/youtube-promotion/buy-youtube-likes/ and you know, this company helped me a lot, the likes are growing every day and it’s so cool. My blog is about motherhood and I think that soon my blog will bring me profit, I am really looking forward to this, because that was the main goal. Since I am a mother on maternity leave, I really need money.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment