Format fallback

[dldummy]

I miss something, i prefere to download from youtube MP4 720p .. thats -f 22

But if the Video of the desired Format isnt aviable i get an error ... and that was ist ...

So 2 things would bee nice ....

1. Fallback option like --format-fallback to DL default if format isnt aviable
2. Option to select ascending multiple formats

So he try first MP4 720p then MP4 360p, FLV 480p, FLV 360p, MP4 1080p
And if none of my FormatList is aviable and the --format-fallback option is used he do default download.

To think about all possiblitys option FormatListAll would even possible, so he didnt stop after first aviable format and DOWNLOAD the others too, only fallback if none of list is aviable ,but i dont need it ...

Summarized:
--format xx xx xx ... can have more then one format and he pick the first aviable from left to right to DL
--all-formats .... if no --format is used download all, if -f is used only the selected aviable formats
--format-fallback ....if none of --format is aviable do default download

If implemented like this we are full backward compatible too ...

Sure it can be solved by using -F and analysing the otput ....
But with this options it woulde be easyer and i hope/think its not so mucht work to implement ....

Or am i wrong and i can do this with the actual Options too !?

Best regards

[phihag]

In other words, this issue asks for -f 22/best, which should be reasonable simple to implement.

[phihag]

Note that you can already call youtube-dl with -f 22/38/37/46/45/35/44/34/18/43/6/5/17/13, which does precisely what you want, but is somewhat inconvenient. If you always want that, just write it into the configuration file ~/.config/youtube-dl.conf.

[dldummy]

Oh thats fine ... and what with the fallback option !?

[phihag]

That is the fallback option. If you want to just download all formats, simply specify -f all.

[dldummy]

Not exactly, if i list only 2-3 formats and none of them is aviable .... he stops

[dldummy]

Or did i mussunderstood

[phihag]

If you want youtube-dl to download a video in format 22 if it's available in that format, and in any other format otherwise, -f 22/38/37/46/45/35/44/34/18/43/6/5/17/13 does that. If it doesn't for you, please post the example output (with the -v switch please) of a video that fails.

[dldummy]

I tried it ... it works fine .... but if only as example i use -f38/37 and none of them is aviable he stops.
In this cas he should optinal do a fallback to the default dl sheme (without -f) and DL some aviable format.

did you now understand .... what i mean ?

[dldummy]

I think i have a solution for the fallback thing too ....

I think/hope that there is ALWAS a Format 5 (FLV 240p) version ....
so if i end my list with 5 like -f22/18/37/5 then he shoulde ALWAYS download something
Its not exactly the way of fallback i fist thinked of ... but i hope it works in all cases ...

THANKS for your HELP