YT-DLP audio-quality parm usage -- note to JP Giilliver

[j***@astraweb.com]

JP Gilliver, I could not find the post but i recall you saying that the audio quality parm was
unnecessary when using yt-dlp.
You were correct there because elsewhere you have mentioned that you do not use extra parms, with some
exceptions when needed.

BUT, I am using yt-dlp with parms and i found out recently the when and why I need the audio-quality
parm.

~~~~from yt-dlp help file~~~~~~~

Post-Processing Options:
-x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
(requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
used. (currently supported: best (default),
aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
wav). You can specify multiple rules using
similar syntax as --remux-video
--audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)

...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I use this bat for converting to mp3's and the -x option calls the ffmpeg.exe <---- and it is ffmpeg
requires the audio quality option --


~~~~~~ yta.bat~~~~~~~
%yt% -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 1 %1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(reason for the audio-format mp3 -- mpc 6, which I use for the XP machine has no idea what a .webm
file is.)

yt has been set as a system variable (%yt%) in the child environment with a couple of arguments and a
directory change to the youtube-dl directory -- but from a bat named yt in windows/System 32, named that
for simplicity and so that i can reuse 'yt' as a bat name in the youtube-dl directory because of the
hierarchy of batch file execution.

jim (or jack, no matter)

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by j***@astraweb.com
JP Gilliver, I could not find the post but i recall you saying that the

(John!)

Post by j***@astraweb.com
audio quality parm was
unnecessary when using yt-dlp.

Well, I remember reading somewhere that it usually defaults to best
available.

Post by j***@astraweb.com
You were correct there because elsewhere you have mentioned that you do
not use extra parms, with some
exceptions when needed.

(Mainly when I want subtitles - I don't think I've used any other extra
parm.s for ages.)

Post by j***@astraweb.com
BUT, I am using yt-dlp with parms and i found out recently the when
and why I need the audio-quality
parm.
~~~~from yt-dlp help file~~~~~~~
-x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
(requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
used. (currently supported: best (default),
aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
wav). You can specify multiple rules using
similar syntax as --remux-video

"best (default)" - though that doesn't, by the sound of it, set a
format. (And these days - see below - "best" is more likely to be m4a
than mp3.)
[]

Post by j***@astraweb.com
(reason for the audio-format mp3 -- mpc 6, which I use for the XP
machine has no idea what a .webm
file is.)

I generally, for music tracks, download as video then use an audio
extractor; I know this is inefficient, but less so than you might think,
especially if the "video" is just a still of the album sleeve. (Which I
sometimes use the snapshot function of VLC to capture anyway.) There are
many audio extractors (mostly wrappers for ffmpeg, of course); the one I
use is Pazera, because it's clear that it extracts the original audio,
which is what I want, rather than adding an extra conversion (and thus
in theory degradation) stage. Obviously that's not of concern to you so
any extractor would do (though Pazera's conversion abilities are easy to
follow too).

I'm sort of in a similar situation to you - see other thread! - as the
vast majority of downloaded video files these days seem to have m4a
audio (I haven't found one where the extracted file was mp3 for some
time, though have in the past), and my WinAmp - my preferred audio
player - only plays about a third of the m4a files (though I have other
things that do). [The embedded audio is nearly always 44100 stereo, too,
regardless of whether that's what's needed: I've very occasionally found
one that actually is mono, though I don't think I've seen a lower sample
rate, even for material that has nothing but noise above 5 kHz, such as
many 78s.]

Post by j***@astraweb.com
yt has been set as a system variable (%yt%) in the child environment
with a couple of arguments and a
directory change to the youtube-dl directory -- but from a bat named yt
in windows/System 32, named that
for simplicity and so that i can reuse 'yt' as a bat name in the
youtube-dl directory because of the
hierarchy of batch file execution.
jim (or jack, no matter)

(-:
My one attempt to use a batch file with yt-dlp (to add the subtitles
parameter) fails (so I just "type ys.bat" to remind me what the
parameter is and then type it manually!).

[j***@astraweb.com]

Post by J. P. Gilliver
My one attempt to use a batch file with yt-dlp (to add the subtitles
parameter) fails (so I just "type ys.bat" to remind me what the
parameter is and then type it manually!).

Try one of these, the first one says "get whatever is out there for this file" and the second says "only
if it is English (en). Use --write-auto-subs if you want the automatically generated subtitles.

yt-dlp --write-subs %1 %2 %3 %4 %5


yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs "en" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
My one attempt to use a batch file with yt-dlp (to add the subtitles
parameter) fails (so I just "type ys.bat" to remind me what the
parameter is and then type it manually!).

Try one of these, the first one says "get whatever is out there for
this file" and the second says "only
if it is English (en). Use --write-auto-subs if you want the
automatically generated subtitles.
yt-dlp --write-subs %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs "en" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5

My ys.bat file says
y --write-subs %1

I just tried
ys

but I see that the first line gets converted into

y --write-subs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

i. e. it gets truncated after the "?v".

[j***@astraweb.com]

Post by J. P. Gilliver

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
My one attempt to use a batch file with yt-dlp (to add the subtitles
parameter) fails (so I just "type ys.bat" to remind me what the
parameter is and then type it manually!).

Try one of these, the first one says "get whatever is out there for
this file" and the second says "only
if it is English (en). Use --write-auto-subs if you want the
automatically generated subtitles.
yt-dlp --write-subs %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs "en" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5

My ys.bat file says
y --write-subs %1
I just tried
ys http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM
but I see that the first line gets converted into
y --write-subs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
i. e. it gets truncated after the "?v".

Okay, using your URL, here is the complete output, starting from my entry to CMD, and also getting the
autogenerated subtitles -- the SYSOUT comment from YT-DLP was no subtitle found on the first .bat
because there were none -- they are auto generated. The second bat gets the AGS. (yes, it could be
consolidated to a single bat)

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Xamar>yt

C:\Users\Xamar>CD c:\youtube-dl

c:\youtube-dl>set yt=yt-dlp --socket-timeout 3600 -i

c:\youtube-dl>echo yt-dlp --socket-timeout 3600 -i
yt-dlp --socket-timeout 3600 -i

c:\youtube-dl>set prompt=$p_$t_$g

c:\youtube-dl_ 7:18:16.24_>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

c:\youtube-dl_ 7:18:17.51_>yt " http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM

c:\youtube-dl_ 7:18:28.07_>yt-dlp --socket-timeout 3600 -i --write-subs "

M"
[youtube] Extracting URL: http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading ios player API JSON
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading 1 format(so): 605+140
[info] There are no subtitles for the requested languages
[hortative] Downloading mu manifest
[hortative] Total fragments: 28
[download] Destination: Sir David Attenuating's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[LitHOgRAphS].720p.mp4
[download] 100% of 4.93MiB in 00:00:14 at 338.97KiB/s
[download] Destination: Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[Ln6HLgZV4mM].f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 2.20MiB in 00:00:01 at 1.44MiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[Ln6HLgZV4mM].mp4"
Deleting original file Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[Ln6HLgZV4mM].f140.m4a (pass
-k to keep)
Deleting original file Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[Ln6HLgZV4mM].f605.mp4 (pass
-k to keep)
c:\youtube-dl_ 7:18:51.26_>
c:\youtube-dl_ 7:20:25.91_>
c:\youtube-dl_ 7:20:26.23_>ytags " http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM

c:\youtube-dl_ 7:21:19.34_>yt-dlp --socket-timeout 3600 -i --write-auto-subs "

LgZV4mM"
[youtube] Extracting URL: http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading ios player API JSON
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading player 4fc7f9fa
[youtube] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading subtitles: en
[info] Ln6HLgZV4mM: Downloading 1 format(s): 605+140
[info] Writing video subtitles to: Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[Ln6HLgZV4mM].en
.vtt
[download] Destination: Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions
[Ln6HLgZV4mM].en.vtt
[download] 100% of 13.75KiB in 00:00:00 at 158.01KiB/s
[download] Sir David Attenborough's answer to his 'religious viewers' questions [Ln6HLgZV4mM].mp4 has
already been downloaded

c:\youtube-dl_ 7:21:23.22_>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(I have had success writing both types of subtitles, also in forcing it to write a .srt file from the
.vtt file.) <-- why? this is kind of a hobby, but my career dealt with mainframes and ended in 1992, i
used to call these PC clones "fancy toasters". Bletchley Park was the home of some electronic
computing breakthroughs and the codebreakers who helped to end World War II. There is a museum there.

jim

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
My one attempt to use a batch file with yt-dlp (to add the subtitles
parameter) fails (so I just "type ys.bat" to remind me what the
parameter is and then type it manually!).

Try one of these, the first one says "get whatever is out there for
this file" and the second says "only
if it is English (en). Use --write-auto-subs if you want the
automatically generated subtitles.
yt-dlp --write-subs %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs "en" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5

My ys.bat file says
y --write-subs %1
I just tried
ys http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM
but I see that the first line gets converted into
y --write-subs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
i. e. it gets truncated after the "?v".

Okay, using your URL, here is the complete output, starting from my
entry to CMD, and also getting the
autogenerated subtitles -- the SYSOUT comment from YT-DLP was no
subtitle found on the first .bat

(Since I knew it wouldn't work, I just used a URL I had bookmarked.)
[]
Here's a dump of my command window (starting already in the right
directory):
===
D:\videos\yt-dlp>type ys.bat
rem --write-auto-subs
rem y --write-subs -- --sub-langs "all" -- %1
y --write-subs %1

D:\videos\yt-dlp>ys http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM

D:\videos\yt-dlp>rem --write-auto-subs

D:\videos\yt-dlp>rem y --write-subs -- --sub-langs "all" --
https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v

D:\videos\yt-dlp>y --write-subs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
[generic] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
[generic] watch?v: Downloading webpage
[redirect] Following redirect to https://www.youtube.com
[youtube:recommended] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com
[youtube:tab] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/feed/recommended
[youtube:tab] recommended: Downloading webpage
[download] Downloading playlist: recommended
[youtube:tab] Playlist recommended: Downloading 0 items
[download] Finished downloading playlist: recommended

D:\videos\yt-dlp>
===
(I have a copy of yt-dlp.exe in that folder, just called y.exe .)
As you can see, my ys.bat (ignore the two "rem" lines of course) just
calls y with --write-subs and %1. The only difference I can see from
your batch file is that yours has %2 %3 %4 %5 as well.

As you can see, it works through - ignoring the rem lines - until it
gets to the last line, but the parameter has been cropped before the
"=".

Maybe - in fact it seems likely - that it's the command parser, rather
than y[t-dlp].exe, that's doing the splitting/truncating/whatever at the
= sign.

[j***@astraweb.com]

Post by J. P. Gilliver

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
My one attempt to use a batch file with yt-dlp (to add the subtitles
parameter) fails (so I just "type ys.bat" to remind me what the
parameter is and then type it manually!).

Try one of these, the first one says "get whatever is out there for
this file" and the second says "only
if it is English (en). Use --write-auto-subs if you want the
automatically generated subtitles.
yt-dlp --write-subs %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs "en" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5

My ys.bat file says
y --write-subs %1
I just tried
ys http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM
but I see that the first line gets converted into
y --write-subs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
i. e. it gets truncated after the "?v".

Okay, using your URL, here is the complete output, starting from my
entry to CMD, and also getting the
autogenerated subtitles -- the SYSOUT comment from YT-DLP was no
subtitle found on the first .bat

(Since I knew it wouldn't work, I just used a URL I had bookmarked.)
[]
Here's a dump of my command window (starting already in the right
===
D:\videos\yt-dlp>type ys.bat
rem --write-auto-subs
rem y --write-subs -- --sub-langs "all" -- %1
y --write-subs %1
D:\videos\yt-dlp>ys http://youtu.be/Ln6HLgZV4mM
D:\videos\yt-dlp>rem --write-auto-subs
D:\videos\yt-dlp>rem y --write-subs -- --sub-langs "all" --
https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v
D:\videos\yt-dlp>y --write-subs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
[generic] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
[generic] watch?v: Downloading webpage
[redirect] Following redirect to https://www.youtube.com
[youtube:recommended] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com
[youtube:tab] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/feed/recommended
[youtube:tab] recommended: Downloading webpage
[download] Downloading playlist: recommended
[youtube:tab] Playlist recommended: Downloading 0 items
[download] Finished downloading playlist: recommended
D:\videos\yt-dlp>
===
(I have a copy of yt-dlp.exe in that folder, just called y.exe .)
As you can see, my ys.bat (ignore the two "rem" lines of course) just
calls y with --write-subs and %1. The only difference I can see from
your batch file is that yours has %2 %3 %4 %5 as well.
As you can see, it works through - ignoring the rem lines - until it
gets to the last line, but the parameter has been cropped before the
"=".
Maybe - in fact it seems likely - that it's the command parser, rather
than y[t-dlp].exe, that's doing the splitting/truncating/whatever at the
= sign.

Thanks for the full input/output.

I see your problem.

Put the URL in quotes so that it will read the '=' and any other special marks the YT-DLP.exe considers
'special' as a literal instead of an operand. :-)

The only reason I have extra argument placeholders out there is if i were to decide to type more
arguments on the line. It is not as if this bat is going to executed 100,000 times where brevity would
be of the essence....

[J. P. Gilliver]

[]

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
Maybe - in fact it seems likely - that it's the command parser, rather
than y[t-dlp].exe, that's doing the splitting/truncating/whatever at the
= sign.

Thanks for the full input/output.
I see your problem.
Put the URL in quotes so that it will read the '=' and any other
special marks the YT-DLP.exe considers
'special' as a literal instead of an operand. :-)

I'll try that. Though it isn't yt-dlp that's doing the chopping - it's
the command parser. If I _manually_ type

y --write-subs <the URL with the ?v= in it>

, I get the video file and the subtitle file.

I've just done a little experiment - copying my command window:
===
D:\videos\yt-dlp>copy con: e.bat
echo %1
^Z
1 file(s) copied.

D:\videos\yt-dlp>type e.bat
echo %1

D:\videos\yt-dlp>e xyz?v=234

D:\videos\yt-dlp>echo xyz?v
xyz?v

D:\videos\yt-dlp>e "xyz?v=123"

D:\videos\yt-dlp>echo "xyz?v=123"
"xyz?v=123"

D:\videos\yt-dlp>
===
So it's clear that the command parser _does_ trim at the "=" - and
doesn't if I put it in quotes, so next time I want to download a file
with the subtitles, I'll put it in quotes! Though it may not work, as I
see it includes the quote marks; depends on whether yt-dlp minds that. I
had given up on batch files thinking it was something about yt-dlp that
was giving the problems, but it looks as if it's the command parser that
was the problem.

(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

Whoever wrote yt-dlp (and its predecessor yt-dl) was clever: if you
rename it (as I have to y.exe, for example), "y -U" still works to
update it - and the updated file is still y.exe! (I found out at some
point that it creates - and then deletes - a batch file to update itself
[and that if there's a space in the path, that breaks it].)

Post by j***@astraweb.com
The only reason I have extra argument placeholders out there is if i
were to decide to type more
arguments on the line. It is not as if this bat is going to executed
100,000 times where brevity would
be of the essence....

(-:

[j***@astraweb.com]

Post by J. P. Gilliver
(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

At least 30 years ago I had a tagline on FIDO for occasional use that read:
"Real men write batch files with 'copy con' ".

jim

[Char Jackson]

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

"Real men write batch files with 'copy con' ".

The timing checks out. We used 'copy con' in the mid 1980s, and when that wasn't
enough, we'd fire up edlin! Good old edlin was still hanging around as late as
XP, although by then most people had probably moved on to Notepad or similar.

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 12:05:40 -0500

Post by Char Jackson

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

"Real men write batch files with 'copy con' ".

The timing checks out. We used 'copy con' in the mid 1980s, and when that wasn't
enough, we'd fire up edlin! Good old edlin was still hanging around as late as
XP, although by then most people had probably moved on to Notepad or similar.

I used edlin with redirection in some automated install batch scripts!
(I'm new to W7; I mostly use Win XP).

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by Kerr-Mudd, John
On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 12:05:40 -0500

Post by Char Jackson

On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 22:06:06 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver"

Post by J. P. Gilliver
(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

"Real men write batch files with 'copy con' ".

The timing checks out. We used 'copy con' in the mid 1980s, and when that wasn't
enough, we'd fire up edlin! Good old edlin was still hanging around as late as
XP, although by then most people had probably moved on to Notepad or similar.

I used edlin with redirection in some automated install batch scripts!
(I'm new to W7; I mostly use Win XP).

If I'm already in a command window (and thus have my hands on the
keyboard rather than mouse anyway), copy con: is easier than calling up
Notepad or anything else.

By the way, I tried my yt-dlp batch file with a URL enclosed in quotes,
and it accepted it fine. (Didn't actually do what I wanted, but that was
because the clip I tried it with didn't _have_ subtitles available: I
tried manually typing the line, with the same effect. [I even tried the
"all" parameter - no subtitles in _any_ language for that clip.])

[j***@astraweb.com]

Post by Char Jackson

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by J. P. Gilliver
(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

"Real men write batch files with 'copy con' ".

The timing checks out. We used 'copy con' in the mid 1980s, and when that wasn't
enough, we'd fire up edlin! Good old edlin was still hanging around as late as
XP, although by then most people had probably moved on to Notepad or similar.

HAHA - i bet you even used the scroll-lock key.

I was using Xtree's editor mostly in the early nineties (past 1992 when I left the mainframe world) and
then a big move to Qedit for any file manipulation of consequence by the mid-to late-nineties and early
2000s.....


jim

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by j***@astraweb.com

Post by Char Jackson

On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 22:06:06 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver"

Post by J. P. Gilliver
(Did you know about "copy con: <filename>"? It's handy for a very simple
batch file as here!)

"Real men write batch files with 'copy con' ".

The timing checks out. We used 'copy con' in the mid 1980s, and when that wasn't
enough, we'd fire up edlin! Good old edlin was still hanging around as late as
XP, although by then most people had probably moved on to Notepad or similar.

HAHA - i bet you even used the scroll-lock key.
I was using Xtree's editor mostly in the early nineties (past 1992 when
I left the mainframe world) and
then a big move to Qedit for any file manipulation of consequence by
the mid-to late-nineties and early
2000s.....
jim

I still use XTG's editor, just for my tagline file! (I think it's called
something like 1-word.) It has a filesize limit of something somewhat
under 64K, which forces me to keep my tagline file fresh: when I want to
add a new quote, I have to decide what old one to delete. I still have
some of its keystrokes in muscle memory, as I used to use it as my main
editor back when, too.

[JJ]

Post by j***@astraweb.com
(reason for the audio-format mp3 -- mpc 6, which I use for the XP machine has no idea what a .webm
file is.)

Get ffdshow. It's a DirectShow filter for audio and video codecs. So, it's
usable by Windows Media Player or any DirectShow capable media players. The
codec set is the open source libavcodec which is used by many
"catch-all-formats" media players such as VLC, MPC-HC, etc.

https://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/

[j***@astraweb.com]

Post by JJ

Post by j***@astraweb.com
(reason for the audio-format mp3 -- mpc 6, which I use for the XP machine has no idea what a .webm
file is.)

Get ffdshow. It's a DirectShow filter for audio and video codecs. So, it's
usable by Windows Media Player or any DirectShow capable media players. The
codec set is the open source libavcodec which is used by many
"catch-all-formats" media players such as VLC, MPC-HC, etc.
https://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/

Thanks......