Can't automatically over write existing downloaded file

[section83]

• I've verified and I assure that I'm running youtube-dl 2017.08.23

Before submitting an issue make sure you have:

• At least skimmed through the README, most notably the FAQ and BUGS sections
• Searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

What is the purpose of your issue?

• Bug report (encountered problems with youtube-dl)
• Site support request (request for adding support for a new site)
• Feature request (request for a new functionality)
• Question
• Other

---

This is the full verbose output:

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--restrict-filenames', u'--verbose', u'-o', u'%(title)s.%(ext)s', u'http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/amateur-hour-spotlight-shorts/ZW0776A006S00']
[debug] Encodings: locale US-ASCII, fs utf-8, out None, pref US-ASCII
[debug] youtube-dl version 2017.08.23
[debug] Python version 2.7.10 - Darwin-16.7.0-x86_64-i386-64bit
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 3.3.2-tessus, ffprobe 3.3.2-tessus
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[abc.net.au:iview] ZW0776A006S00: Downloading webpage
[abc.net.au:iview] ZW0776A006S00: Downloading f4m manifest
[abc.net.au:iview] ZW0776A006S00: Downloading m3u8 information
[abc.net.au:iview] ZW0776A006S00: Downloading f4m manifest
[abc.net.au:iview] ZW0776A006S00: Downloading m3u8 information
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo+bestaudio/best
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'http://iviewum-vh.akamaihd.net/i/playback/_definst_/_video/artsa/arts_amateur_01_06_20170814140030_,1500000,1000000,650000,500000,220000,.mp4.csmil/index_0_av.m3u8'
[download] Ash_Flanders.mp4 has already been downloaded

[download] 100% of 23.05MiB
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffprobe -show_streams 'file:Ash_Flanders.mp4'
[ffmpeg] Fixing malformed AAC bitstream in "Ash_Flanders.mp4"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -i 'file:Ash_Flanders.mp4' -c copy -f mp4 '-bsf:a' aac_adtstoasc 'file:Ash_Flanders.temp.mp4'

---

Am issuing this command:

youtube-dl --restrict-filenames -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' URL

The download file exists but is not over written. Is there a way to force over writing ?

[dstftw]

--no-continue.

[section83]

Thank you, especially for the quick response.

I don't understand why it works. I have taken the documentation literally which says "Do not resume partially downloaded files (restart from beginning)". Is a fully downloaded file the same as a partially downloaded file ? I guess so. Can I suggest a small redraft:

"Do not resume partially downloaded files (restart from beginning). Also, overwrite completed downloads."

Also, --no-overwrites will override --no-continue which is good but not apparent from documentation.

[section83]

Sorry but, I find this frustrating. I can't get youtube-dl to overwrite any fully downloaded files. No, I'm not thinking of partially downloaded files (which can be handled with --no-continue). I am thinking of downloads that are completed. In my tests, "--no-continue" does not force overwrite a completed download. youtube-dl still reports: " has already been downloaded and merged" and nothing is downloaded.

What use is the --no-overwrites parameter when youtube-dl will never overwrite a completed download anyway ? Probably, I've missed something so my question is: "In what situations does youtube-dl overwrite completed downloads ?"

Thanks.

[alxnull]

I find this confusing too, youtube-dl has a --continue as well as a --no-continue option and a --no-overwrites option but no --overwrites option. I also couldn't manage to force youtube-dl to overwrite an existing fully downloaded file by adding --no-continue.

[section83]

It's very odd as youtube-dl will not overwrite a completed download in any case, as far as I can tell. The two continue options only seem to work when a download has been partially completed. "--no-continue" will overwrite what has been downloaded. I don't understand when "--continue" might be needed but, it doesn't hurt to use it.

Also, the developers have stated in response to a number of questions that "--no-continue" will over-write a completed download but, I've never been able to get that to work (link to example). In fact the readme says: "Do not resume partially downloaded files (restart from beginning)" which says nothing about completed downloads. I guess the only option is to delete the completed download manually or by script before running youtube-dl.