# What changed in yt-dlp

> 60 changes in yt-dlp 2026 from its official release notes, upgrade guides and advisories: 11 breaking, 4 deprecations, 3 security, 11 new APIs and options. Each one cited. Sources checked 2026-10-20. HTML: https://unstale.sh/pypi/yt-dlp/

To see which of these apply to a repository, run `npx @unstale/cli init` in it.

## yt-dlp 2026

### Breaking changes

- The dead ARD extractor has been removed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The iOS and macOS clients have been removed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Broken login support has been removed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- MMS support has been removed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Broken login support has been removed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- RTSP support has been removed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Support for downloading HLS and DASH formats with aria2c has been removed; use -N for concurrent fragment downloads via the native downloader. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- Files with this extension may now be written only for --write-link functionality. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- Command templates now allow only safe conversions; replace string conversions such as %(...)s with %(...)q. Numeric conversions are unaffected. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- Files with this extension may now be written only for --write-link functionality. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- Files with this extension may now be written only for --write-link functionality. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)

### Security

- Shortcut file data written with this option is now validated and sanitized to address downstream command injection. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Cookies are now passed with their scope respected, fixing a cookie leak on redirects for users of the curl downloader. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- yt-dlp: Arbitrary Command Injection when using the `--netrc-cmd` option (2026.02.21) — [security advisory](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-G3GW-Q23R-PGQM)

### Deprecations

- The utils function number_of_digits is deprecated. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The utils function random_uuidv4 is deprecated. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The utility is deprecated in favor of `make_parent_dirs`. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The minimum recommended Python version is now 3.11; Python 3.10 support will be dropped soon. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)

### New APIs and options

- The channel_follower_count field is extracted for YouTube collaborators. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- TikTok share URLs are supported. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- A visionos YouTube player client is added. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- YouTube adds web_embedded player client fallbacks. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Shorts are now supported. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Extractors have been added. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Password-protected videos are now supported. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Share URLs are now supported. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Live adaptive formats are now supported. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- An extractor has been added. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- A clips extractor has been added. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)

### Behavior and default changes

- android_vr is no longer among the default YouTube player clients. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Apple extractors have been reworked. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Bandcamp extraction supports browser impersonation. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The curl_cffi request handler supports curl_cffi 0.16.x. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Showroom extractors have been reworked. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Warnings are now always included in debug output. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Supports fps suffixes. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The extractor now extracts comments and `uploader_url` for playlists, and improves metadata extraction. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The extractor now detects livestreams. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Supplemental codecs are now extracted from DASH manifests, affecting the available format metadata. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- This option is now supported for SoundCloud original formats. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)
- Direct merge downloads with ffmpeg now use the info dict's HTTP headers. (2026.06.09) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09)

### Fixes and other changes

- Season and series extraction is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The extractor is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Logged-in extraction is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- Generation of live adaptive fragments is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The TikTok extractor is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- TikTok format extraction is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The extractor is fixed. (2026.08.19) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.08.19)
- The compatibility option is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Resuming downloads with aria2c is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Playlist support is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The weekly extractor is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- API extraction is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The `__ior__` operation is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The extractor detects when cookies are invalidated and has been reworked. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- VIP stream extraction is fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Returns an `int` when appropriate. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- The extractor supports the new URL format. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Invalid PKCS#1 v1.5 padding bytes are fixed. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)
- Request error output now always includes the request id. (2026.07.04) — [release notes](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04)