Downloading¶

unshackle dl is the main download command: it fetches a title's manifest from a streaming service, selects exactly the tracks you asked for, acquires and applies decryption keys, and muxes everything into a finished Matroska file. The flags below cover quality and codec selection, language and subtitle handling, episode ranges, and the download flow itself.

Where the full flag list lives

This page covers the flags you will use most and explains how they interact. It is not an exhaustive enumeration. For the complete, always-current list of every option and its exact wording, use unshackle dl --help. Every flag shown here can also be given a default in your configuration file. See Configuration file.

Command shape¶

A download is always three layers: the root CLI, the dl command (which is where unshackle parses all the flags below), and a service tag subcommand that carries the title argument.

unshackle dl [OPTIONS] SERVICE [SERVICE ARGUMENTS]

unshackle: the root command.
dl: the download command. unshackle parses all of the options on this page here, so they go before the service tag.
SERVICE: a service tag such as EXAMPLE1, EXAMPLE2, EXAMPLE3. Service tags are case-insensitive and honour each service's aliases (for example example+ resolves to its real tag).
SERVICE ARGUMENTS: usually a title ID or URL. This positional argument belongs to the service, not to dl, so it comes after the tag.

A minimal download

unshackle dl EXAMPLE 81234567

Flags belong to dl, the title belongs to the service

unshackle dl -q 1080 -v H.265 -r HDR10 --lang en EXAMPLE 'https://www.example.com/...'

See what a service accepts

Because each service defines its own positional argument, use unshackle dl SERVICE --help (for example unshackle dl EXAMPLE --help) to see that service's own argument and any service-specific options.

The download flow¶

When you start a download, dl moves through the pipeline below. The order tells you why, for example, --list stops early, and why unshackle fetches the content keys even with --skip-dl.

Setup: load the DRM CDM, key vaults, proxy providers, cookies, and credentials.
Authenticate: sign in to the service with your profile's cookies/credentials.
Fetch titles: retrieve the movie, episode list, or album (cached unless --no-cache/--reset-cache).
Filter titles: apply --wanted, --latest-episode, --latest-episodes, or --select-titles.
Get tracks: parse the manifest into video, audio, subtitle, and chapter tracks.
Select tracks: narrow each type down using your quality, codec, range, language, and bitrate flags.
Download: pull segments for the selected tracks (concurrently per --downloads).
License & decrypt: get the content keys (vault → CDM), decrypt each track.
Post-process: extract closed captions, convert subtitles, repack, mux with mkvmerge, and move the finished file to your downloads directory.

--list prints the tracks a title exposes and stops before selection. --list-titles prints every title the service returned and stops before --wanted/--latest-episode/--latest-episodes filtering. --skip-dl runs the license step but skips the actual segment download.

Choosing quality¶

Resolution¶

-q / --quality takes one or more target resolutions (heights) as a comma-separated list. Without it, unshackle picks the best available resolution.

Single resolution

unshackle dl -q 1080 EXAMPLE 81234567

Multiple resolutions in one run

unshackle dl -q 2160,1080,720 EXAMPLE 81234567

16:9 canvas matching

Resolution matching is by track height first. If no track height matches exactly, unshackle falls back to a 16:9-canvas match, so -q 1080 also selects an anamorphic 1920×804 track (computed as int(width × 9 / 16)). unshackle applies the fallback to each range and codec on its own. A service that crops only its HDR10 tracks therefore keeps its 3840×1920 HDR10 track, even when another range has an exact 2160 height match.

Best-available and worst¶

By default a missing requested resolution is an error. Two flags change that:

Flag	Behaviour
`--best-available` (`--warn-only`)	If the requested resolution(s) are not present, continue with the best that is available instead of failing. Also softens missing video/audio/subtitle languages and hybrid fallbacks, and with `--all-drm` a DRM system that does not license.
`--worst`	Within the specified quality, pick the lowest bitrate rendition. Requires `-q/--quality`.

Never fail on a missing resolution

unshackle dl -q 2160 --best-available EXAMPLE 0ABC123

Video codec and colour range¶

Codec¶

-v / --vcodec selects one or more video codecs. The default is any codec. It accepts either enum names or their values, comma-separated.

Name	Value
`AVC`	`H.264`
`HEVC`	`H.265`
`VC1`	`VC-1`
`VP8`	`VP8`
`VP9`	`VP9`
`AV1`	`AV1`

H264 and H265 are aliases of AVC and HEVC.

Either spelling works

unshackle dl -v HEVC   EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl -v H.265  EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl -v hevc,avc EXAMPLE 81234567

Colour range¶

-r / --range selects one or more colour ranges. The default is SDR.

Range	Meaning
`SDR`	Standard dynamic range (default)
`HLG`	Hybrid Log-Gamma
`HDR10`	HDR10
`HDR10P`	HDR10+
`DV`	Dolby Vision
`HYBRID`	Fetch both an HDR10/HDR10+ base and a DV track, then merge them

Grab HDR10 and Dolby Vision in one run

unshackle dl -q 2160 -r HDR10,DV EXAMPLE '...'

HYBRID requires dovi_tool

-r HYBRID makes a single hybrid track by injecting the Dolby Vision RPU metadata onto an HDR10/HDR10+ base layer with dovi_tool. It requires the dovi_tool binary, resolved from unshackle's binaries/ folder, the binaries folder of your user data directory, or your PATH. The normal case is a DV track plus an HDR10 or HDR10+ base. With HDR10+ and no DV, unshackle converts the HDR10+ metadata to DV instead, which also needs hdr10plus_tool. With no DV and no HDR10+, the title fails. When HDR10+ is present, unshackle prefers it over HDR10 as the base layer.

To keep an HDR10+ deliverable alongside the hybrid, request both ranges: -r HYBRID,HDR10P. -r HYBRID on its own muxes only the merged hybrid.

Bitrate selection¶

By default unshackle keeps the highest-bitrate rendition for each selected resolution/codec/range/language combination. You can constrain this.

Flag	Purpose
`-vb` / `--vbitrate`	Exact video bitrate in kbps.
`-ab` / `--abitrate`	Exact audio bitrate in kbps.
`-vb-range` / `--vbitrate-range`	Video bitrate range in kbps, e.g. `6000-7000`; picks the highest within it.
`-ab-range` / `--abitrate-range`	Audio bitrate range in kbps, e.g. `128-256`.

Exact vs range are mutually exclusive

You cannot combine --vbitrate with --vbitrate-range, and likewise for the audio pair. Pick one form.

Real bitrate probing¶

Manifest-declared bitrates are sometimes rounded or wrong. Services often advertise a peak or nominal bandwidth that is far from the track's real average. This matters because a track's bitrate drives the track listing, the sort order, and the --vbitrate/--vbitrate-range selection above. A bogus declared value therefore makes unshackle pick the wrong track. These flags probe the actual media size to compute a true bitrate for the top renditions, overriding the manifest value:

-rvb / --real-video-bitrate: probe real video bitrates (per codec/range).
-rab / --real-audio-bitrate: probe real audio bitrates (per codec/channels/ language). Slower than the video variant because there are more renditions to probe.

Reading the probed numbers

unshackle measures a single-file track (DASH SegmentBase/BaseURL) exactly. A multi-segment track (most HLS) is a sampled estimate, normally within a few percent of the true value. For MPEG-TS HLS the probed figure also reads a few percent above the demuxed elementary stream, because the segment bytes include container overhead. That is the real delivered size, not an over-report or a bug.

Why not every rendition is probed

Probing does not touch every rendition. unshackle probes only the five highest declared-bitrate renditions of each quality tier, in parallel (video grouped by codec and range, audio by codec, channels, language, and descriptive flag). It extends a group downward while a lower unprobed rendition could still outrank a probed one. This keeps probing fast even when a service exposes dozens of renditions. A track whose duration unshackle cannot find falls back to ffprobe. A probe failure is non-fatal: the manifest value stays in place.

Audio codec, channels, and Atmos¶

Codec¶

-a / --acodec selects one or more audio codecs (comma-separated). The default is any.

Name	Value	Codec
`AAC`	`AAC`	Advanced Audio Coding
`AC3`	`DD`	Dolby Digital
`EC3`	`DD+`	Dolby Digital Plus
`AC4`	`AC-4`	Dolby AC-4
`OPUS`	`OPUS`	Opus
`OGG`	`VORB`	Vorbis
`DTS`	`DTS`	DTS
`DTSX`	`DTS-X`	DTS:X Profile 2 (DTS-UHD)
`ALAC`	`ALAC`	Apple Lossless
`FLAC`	`FLAC`	FLAC

unshackle accepts names, values, and a few aliases: eac3 and ddp both give EC3, and vorbis gives OGG.

Prefer Dolby Digital Plus, fall back to AAC

unshackle dl -a EC3,AAC EXAMPLE 81234567

Channels and Atmos¶

-c / --channels: desired channel layout, for example 5.1 or 2.0. Matching is by ceiling, so 5.1 implicitly matches a 6.0-reported layout. An immersive layout such as 5.1.4 matches on its total number of channels, so -c 10 selects it.
-naa / --noatmos: exclude Atmos audio tracks from selection.

5.1 audio, no Atmos

unshackle dl -c 5.1 --noatmos EXAMPLE 0ABC123

Music quality¶

A music service gives one Audio track for each codec and bitrate it offers for a song. The audio options above choose between them: -a picks the codec and -ab or -ab-range picks the bitrate. If you set neither, unshackle takes the best track.

-q / --quality is a video height. It has no effect on a music download.

Take the lossless track

unshackle dl -a FLAC EXAMPLE 81234567

Take the lossy track at 320 kb/s

unshackle dl -a AAC -ab 320 EXAMPLE 81234567

Two FLAC tracks in one release

A service can offer both a CD FLAC and a hi-res FLAC. The two have the same codec, so the bitrate is what separates them. Use --list to read the bitrates, then give -ab the one you want.

Languages¶

Video and audio language¶

-l / --lang sets the wanted language(s) for both video and audio. The default is orig, the title's original language.

Original language plus English

unshackle dl -l orig,en EXAMPLE 81234567

unshackle changes the special token orig to the title's own original language everywhere you use it. You can override each track type independently:

-vl / --v-lang: language for video only (overrides -l for video). Useful when the burned-in video language differs from the audio you want.
-al / --a-lang: language for audio only (overrides -l for audio).

English audio over the original video

unshackle dl -al en EXAMPLE 81234567

Excluding languages¶

Put a - in front of a language to remove it from the selection. This works on -l, -vl, -al, -sl, and -fsl, in the same way as it works on -w / --wanted.

Every subtitle language except Spanish

unshackle dl -sl all,-es EXAMPLE 81234567

unshackle subtracts the exclusions from the languages the flag would otherwise select, and the order of the values does not matter. If you give only exclusions, the flag keeps its own default: -sl -es is the same as -sl all,-es, and -l -es is the same as -l orig,-es.

Only exclusions

# every subtitle language except Spanish and French
unshackle dl -sl -es,-fr EXAMPLE 81234567

# the original audio language, unless it is Spanish
unshackle dl -l -es EXAMPLE 81234567

-vl and -al have no default of their own: they cascade to -l. An override that names a language replaces -l for that track type, exclusions included. An override that gives only exclusions adds them to the ones from -l.

Cascade

# video keeps the Japanese track; only the audio drops Spanish
unshackle dl -l en,-es -vl ja EXAMPLE 81234567

Rules for exclusion tokens

orig becomes the title's own original language, so -sl -orig drops the subtitles in that language.
An exclusion without a region removes every regional form: -es removes es-419 and es-ES. An exclusion with a region removes only that variant: -es-419 removes only es-419. With --exact-lang, -es removes only the variant es means.
Tracks with no language tag are never excluded.
unshackle rejects -all. Name the languages you do not want instead.
The comma form is the documented style. -sl -es also works, but a shell can read a lone -es as another option.

Sort order¶

-l and -sl select languages: naming some removes the rest. To keep every language but decide which ones come first, set a priority list in your configuration file:

unshackle.yaml

audio:
  language_priority: [orig, en]
subtitle:
  group_by: language
  language_priority: [en, es, fr]

Subtitles then start with English, Spanish, and French. The languages you leave out follow alphabetically, after the title's original language. unshackle removes nothing. Audio works the same way, but the languages you leave out keep their bitrate and codec order instead of an alphabetical one.

See subtitle.language_priority for the details.

Exact vs fuzzy matching¶

A tag without a region asks for the variant it means: pt is Brazilian Portuguese, es is Spanish from Spain, and en is US English. With pt-PT and pt-BR tracks, -l pt selects pt-BR. If the title has no such variant, the tag takes every regional form, so -l es on a title with only es-419 selects es-419.

A tag with a region asks for that variant only: -l es-419 selects es-419, never es-ES or es-MX. If the service has no es-419 track, unshackle reports es-419 not found and stops. With --best-available, it continues with the other languages.

A track without a region matches only the region its language implies. en is US English and pt is Brazilian Portuguese, so -l en-US accepts a track tagged en, but -l en-GB and -l pt-PT do not accept en or pt. To take any English track, write en.

--exact-lang turns off that fallback: a tag without a region then selects only the variant it means, so -l es does not select es-419.

orig is the title language that the service gives. It selects that exact variant first, so a fr-CA title takes fr-CA audio over fr-FR. When the title has no track in that variant, orig takes the closest regional form, unless you pass --exact-lang.

An exclusion without a region removes every regional form: -es drops es-ES and es-419. See the exclusion rules for --exact-lang.

The all and best tokens

For audio, the tokens all and best bypass the usual one-track-per-language pick and instead select the best track for each language present. For subtitles, all keeps every subtitle language.

Subtitles¶

Selecting subtitle languages¶

-sl / --s-lang sets the wanted subtitle language(s). The default is all, so unshackle downloads every available subtitle language.

Only English and Spanish subtitles

unshackle dl -sl en,es EXAMPLE 81234567

To keep the default and drop one language, use the - prefix described in Excluding languages. -sl all,-es keeps every subtitle language except Spanish, forced Spanish subtitles included.

Requiring subtitles¶

--require-subs takes a list of languages that must exist. If any is missing, the title fails, even under --best-available / --warn-only. Use it when a download is only worth keeping if a specific subtitle track is present.

It gates the title. It does not select tracks: --s-lang still decides what to keep, and it defaults to all:

# every subtitle language, but only if English is one of them
unshackle dl --require-subs en EXAMPLE 0ABC123

# English, Korean and Japanese only, and only if English is present
unshackle dl -sl en,ko,ja --require-subs en EXAMPLE 0ABC123

Requiring audio and video languages¶

--require-audio and --require-video take a list of languages that must exist. If one is missing, the title fails, even under --best-available / --warn-only. Like --require-subs, they gate the title without selecting tracks: -l / -al / -vl still decide what unshackle downloads.

This matters most with -l best or -l all, which accept whatever the service offers and so never report a missing language on their own:

# every audio language except French, but only if English is one of them
unshackle dl -l best,-fr --require-audio en EXAMPLE 0ABC123

# English is required, French is optional
unshackle dl -l en,fr --require-audio en --warn-only EXAMPLE 0ABC123

The check runs against the full track list, before any language selection or exclusion. orig resolves to the title language, and --exact-lang applies. Audio carried inside the video track counts. --no-audio and --no-video drop the matching requirement.

Forced subtitles and output format¶

-fs / --forced-subs: include forced subtitle tracks (signs/foreign dialogue). Without this flag, unshackle drops forced subtitle tracks from the selection.
-fsl / --forced-s-lang: keep forced subtitles only in these languages (implies -fs). Works independently of --s-lang, so -sl all -fsl en grabs every full subtitle but only the English forced track. It accepts exclusions too: -fsl all,-es keeps every forced subtitle except the Spanish one, and -fsl -es means the same.
-fso / --forced-subs-only: keep only the forced subtitle tracks and drop every other subtitle (implies -fs). --s-lang and -fsl still select the languages.
--sub-format: set the output subtitle format, converting only when necessary. Accepts codec names/values and common aliases (srt, vtt, ass, ssa, ttml, and the other codec aliases), or the literal original to keep the source format.

Value	Format
`SRT` / `srt`	SubRip
`VTT` / `vtt`	WebVTT
`ASS` / `ass`	Advanced SubStation Alpha
`SSA` / `ssa`	SubStation Alpha
`TTML` / `ttml`	Timed Text Markup
`original`	Keep the source format, no conversion

Convert subtitles to SRT

unshackle dl --sub-format srt EXAMPLE 81234567

SDH stripping happens by default

When a subtitle track carries the SDH flag (for the deaf/hard-of-hearing) and there is no plain same-language subtitle, unshackle makes a stripped, non-SDH track automatically. The subtitle.strip_sdh config option controls this behaviour (default on).

Selecting episodes and tracks¶

For series, several flags control which episodes unshackle downloads. The same flags select the tracks of a music release. By default, unshackle downloads all episodes and all tracks.

Wanted ranges¶

-w / --wanted accepts season and episode ranges, comma-separated. Prefix a token with - to exclude it. For a music release, the same option takes track numbers. Read music tracks below.

Whole seasonsSpecific episodesExclusionsSplit episodesAir dates

unshackle dl -w S01 EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl -w S01-S03 EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl -w S01,S03,S05 EXAMPLE 81234567

unshackle dl -w S01E01 EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl -w S01E01-S01E05 EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl -w S01E01-S02E03 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Seasons 1 through 5, but not season 3
unshackle dl -w S01-S05,-S03 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Part 2 of episode 1 only
unshackle dl -w S01E01.2 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Parts 1 through 3 of episode 1
unshackle dl -w S01E01.1-S01E01.3 EXAMPLE 81234567

# All of season 1 except episode 1 part 2
unshackle dl -w S01,-S01E01.2 EXAMPLE 81234567

# One day
unshackle dl -w 2026-08-11 EXAMPLE 81234567

# A range of days, colon separated
unshackle dl -w 2026-08-01:2026-08-31 EXAMPLE 81234567

# August, but not the 15th
unshackle dl -w 2026-08-01:2026-08-31,-2026-08-15 EXAMPLE 81234567

Music tracks¶

-w selects the tracks of an album, EP, single, or playlist. Give a track by its number. A release with more than one disc uses the {disc}x{track} form. A number on its own is a track on disc 1, which is the number the track list shows for a single-disc release.

TracksMore than one discExclusions

# Track 3
unshackle dl -w 3 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Tracks 1 through 5
unshackle dl -w 1-5 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Tracks 1, 3 and 7
unshackle dl -w 1,3,7 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Disc 2, track 3
unshackle dl -w 2x3 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Disc 2, tracks 1 through 4
unshackle dl -w 2x1-2x4 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Disc 1 track 3, through disc 2 track 2
unshackle dl -w 1x3-2x2 EXAMPLE 81234567

# Tracks 1 through 8, but not track 4
unshackle dl -w 1-8,-4 EXAMPLE 81234567

Read the track list first

--list-titles prints the release with its disc and track numbers, so you can see which numbers to give -w.

Daily and date-based content¶

Talk shows, news and sports have no official episode numbering, so unshackle names them by air date. unshackle writes an episode that carries an air date as Show.YYYY.MM.DD instead of SxxExx, the {date} token holds the ISO date, and the season folder becomes the year.

A service that only carries this kind of title sets DAILY = True on its class, and a service can set air_date on each episode itself. Add --daily to mark any other title as date-based:

unshackle dl --daily --tvdb 73871 --enrich EXAMPLE 81234567

With --enrich and a TVDB ID, --daily fills in the air date of every episode that has none. An air date the service already set is kept. unshackle skips dates before 1970 and dates in the future, because TVDB carries placeholder schedule dates for episodes that have not aired. Without --enrich unshackle has no source to fill from, and says so.

A dated episode answers to its air date in -w, as well as to its SxxExx token. A date token is a plain ISO date (2026-08-11). A date range uses a colon (2026-08-01:2026-08-31), because the dashes in a date are part of the date. A range cannot span more than 1000 days. You can mix date tokens and SxxExx tokens in one -w.

Split episodes¶

A few services split one episode into several separately playable videos. Where a service reports that, add .N after the episode to pick one part.

Token	Selects
`S01E01`	All parts of episode 1.
`S01E01.2`	Part 2 of episode 1, and nothing else.
`S01E01.1-S01E01.3`	Parts 1 to 3 of episode 1.
`S01,-S01E01.2`	All of season 1 except episode 1 part 2. Parts 1 and 3 are kept.

A season token such as S01 covers every episode and every part, so you only need .N when you want a part on its own.

A part range stays inside one episode

S01E01.1-S01E01.3 is valid. unshackle rejects S01E01.1-S01E02.3, because the parser cannot know how many parts episode 1 has and so cannot work out where the range ends. To span episodes, write the parts you want as separate tokens: -w S01E01.2,S01E02.1.

A part of an unsplit episode selects nothing

-w S01E02.2 on an episode that was never split is deliberately empty: it tells you the episode has no parts, rather than quietly handing you the whole episode. Use --list-titles to see which episodes carry parts.

Other selection flags¶

Flag	Behaviour
`--select-titles`	Interactively pick episodes of a series, or films when a title has more than one. Cannot combine with `-w`.
`--latest-episode`	Download only the single most recent episode.
`--latest-episodes N`	Download only the N most recent episodes. The newest episodes can come from more than one season. A split episode counts as one episode, and all its parts download.
`--list-titles`	List every title the service returned, then stop. `-w`, `--latest-episode` and `--latest-episodes` are not applied to this listing.

When --latest-episode or --latest-episodes is set, -w has no effect.

Grab just the newest episode

unshackle dl --latest-episode EXAMPLE 81234567

Grab the three newest episodes

unshackle dl --latest-episodes 3 EXAMPLE 81234567

Including and excluding track types¶

You can restrict a download to certain track categories, either positively (only these) or negatively (everything but these).

Only these types (*-only flags):

-V / --video-only
-A / --audio-only
-S / --subs-only
-C / --chapters-only

Skip these types (no-* flags):

-nv / --no-video
-na / --no-audio
-ns / --no-subs
-nc / --no-chapters
-nt / --no-attachments (cover art, subtitle fonts, and files the service attaches)

Additional track-type flags:

-ad / --audio-description: include descriptive (audio-description) tracks, which unshackle drops by default.
-ado / --audio-description-only: keep only the descriptive tracks and drop the standard audio. It does not need -ad. Add -A to download no video or subtitles.
--skip-subtitle-errors: if a subtitle fails to download, skip it and continue rather than aborting the whole title. Video and audio failures remain fatal.

The -only kind flags

-ado and -fso each keep one kind of track inside its track type. They do not drop the other track types: -ado still downloads the video, and -fso still downloads video and audio. Add -A or -S for that.

The language flags still apply. With the default -l orig, -ado fails when the descriptive track is not in the original language. Select the language with -al.
A flag that drops the same tracks is an error, for example -ado with --no-audio or -fso with -A.
A title with no track of that kind stops a run of one title. A run of more than one title skips that title with a warning and continues.
unshackle reads the kind from the manifest or from the service. A track that neither of them marks as descriptive or forced does not match.

Audio description only, in English

unshackle dl -A -ado -al en EXAMPLE 81234567

Subtitles only

unshackle dl -S -sl en EXAMPLE 81234567

Everything except chapters

unshackle dl -nc EXAMPLE 81234567

Note

You can combine an *-only flag with no-* flags to fine-tune: *-only chooses the starting set of categories, then no-* subtracts from it. Attachments (for example fonts) are always kept.

Listing and dry runs¶

Before committing to a long download, inspect what unshackle would do:

Flag	Effect
`--list`	List the tracks the service exposes for each title, then stop. No selection, no download.
`--list-titles`	List every title the service returned, then stop. `-w`, `--latest-episode` and `--latest-episodes` are not applied to this listing.
`--skip-dl`	Skip downloading but still acquire the decryption keys.
`--all-drm`	License each track with both Widevine and PlayReady. See Widevine and PlayReady on the same title.

See the track selection without downloading

unshackle dl -q 1080 -v H.265 -r HDR10 --list EXAMPLE 81234567

Output and muxing¶

Output location and folders¶

-o / --output: override the output directory for this run (otherwise unshackle uses the configured downloads directory).
--no-folder: do not make a per-show folder for TV downloads.
--no-source: remove the service source tag from the filename and path.

Send this download somewhere specific

unshackle dl -o ~/Videos/incoming EXAMPLE 81234567

Muxing behaviour¶

By default, mkvmerge muxes the tracks of a movie or an episode into a single Matroska (.mkv) file. These flags change how unshackle assembles the output:

Flag	Behaviour	Default source
`--no-mux`	Do not mux; keep the individual track files.	-
`--sample`	Download a short sample: 60 seconds from 2 minutes in, or `--sample START-END` for a window in seconds.	-
`--include-sample`	Download the full title, then also cut a 60 second sample from each muxed file into a `Sample` folder.	-
`--split-audio`	Write a separate output file per audio codec instead of merging all audio.	config `muxing.merge_audio` (on)
`--merge-video`	Mux video tracks that share a height, range, and codec into one file, so only language varies inside a file.	config `muxing.merge_video` (off)

--sample needs a segmented track

--sample downloads only the segments that hold the window, and mkvmerge cuts the output to the window. The cut starts at the first video keyframe in the window, so a sample can be some seconds short. unshackle downloads each subtitle track in full and then keeps only the cues of the window.

The run stops before the download starts in two conditions: a service gives a video or audio track as one file with no segments and no segment index, or the title ends before the window starts.

A sidecar subtitle file with sidecar_format: original is not trimmed. It holds the segments around the window, or the whole file when the track is one file.

Music is never muxed

A song skips the muxer. unshackle keeps the container that the service delivered, such as .flac, .m4a, or .mp3, and writes the metadata into that file. Read Music output files.

After the download¶

--postscript "<command>" runs your own command once per output file, with unshackle's metadata substituted into {variable} placeholders. It is repeatable, and it replaces the post_scripts config for that run. No success post-script operates under --no-mux, because that run writes no muxed output. A failure post-script still operates if the download fails.

Hand each finished file to an uploader

unshackle dl --postscript "python /opt/upload.py {filepath} --service={service}" EXAMPLE 81234567

--no-postscript operates the run with no post-script at all. It silences the post_scripts config and --postscript together, for every event and mode.

Skip the uploader for one run

unshackle dl --no-postscript EXAMPLE 81234567

For post-scripts that continue across runs, for the season and run modes, for failure post-scripts and for the full variable list, see Post-scripts.

Naming tags¶

--tag: set the release group tag (overrides the configured tag).
--repack: add a REPACK tag to the output filename.

Custom group tag and a REPACK label

unshackle dl --tag MYGRP --repack EXAMPLE 81234567

Proxies¶

--proxy accepts a full proxy URI, a country or location code (resolved through your configured proxy providers), or a provider:region form. See Proxies & VPN for the exact grammar.

Proxy forms

unshackle dl --proxy us EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl --proxy nordvpn:ca EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl --proxy controld:yul EXAMPLE 81234567
unshackle dl --proxy 'http://user:pass@host:8080' EXAMPLE 81234567

Three related flags:

--no-proxy: force-disable all proxy use for this run.
--no-proxy-download: bypass the proxy for all downloads. The manifest, license, and authentication requests still go through the proxy. This is useful when you need the proxy only to satisfy geo-checks, not to move the bulk of the data.
--proxy-download: use a different proxy for all downloads. The manifest, license, and authentication requests still go through --proxy. Takes the same forms as --proxy.

Performance and caching¶

Flag	Purpose
`--workers N`	Threads used per track for segment downloads. Default depends on the downloader.
`--adaptive-workers`	Opt-in: start the per-track worker count at `--workers`, reduce it when the CDN returns errors, then raise it again while the extra workers add measured throughput. The count never goes above `--workers`. Off by default (fixed worker count).
`--download-processes N`	Opt-in: split a large segment batch across `N` download processes, each with its own worker pool. A single process tops out around 1.3 Gb/s (Python interpreter limit); `2` reaches 2.5GbE line rate on fast CDNs. Only engages for batches of 24+ segments. Ignored while `--speed-limit` (or serve's `global_speed_limit`) is set: the cap is one shared budget, which extra processes cannot share, so the download stays in a single process. Also ignored when the service HTTP session carries state a child process cannot rebuild, such as a custom TLS adapter. The download stays in a single process instead of running with the wrong settings. Default `1`.
`--continue-downloads`	Opt-in: keep completed segment files when a download fails so the next run resumes instead of restarting from zero. One-off enable of the `continue_downloads` config option, which documents what can and cannot resume.
`--downloads N`	Number of tracks downloaded concurrently. Default `1`.
`--slow [MIN-MAX]`	Add a delay between titles to look more like a real device. `--slow` alone means 60-120s; `--slow 20-40` sets a custom range. Minimum 20s.
`--no-cache`	Bypass the title cache for this download.
`--reset-cache`	Clear the title cache before fetching.

Two tracks at a time, eight threads each

unshackle dl --downloads 2 --workers 8 EXAMPLE 81234567

Space out a season download

unshackle dl -w S01 --slow 30-60 EXAMPLE 81234567

Keys, vaults, and export¶

By default, unshackle checks your key vaults first and only asks a CDM to license a content key when the vault misses. You can force one side or the other:

--cdm-only: only use the CDM (skip vaults). Over a server_cdm remote session the flag does not reach the server, whose vault shortcut still runs; it only skips the client's decode check on a server key.
--cdm <name>: use the named CDM device for this run, ignoring the cdm config mapping (including its quality and Widevine/PlayReady sub-entries). Over --remote, that device licenses the remote session, not the server CDM.
--vaults-only: only use key vaults and never license through the CDM. A missing content key fails.

Fetch keys only, no download

unshackle dl --skip-dl EXAMPLE 81234567

--export writes a mediaexport JSON file into the configured exports directory. It holds the manifest, the DRM init data, the content keys, the KIDs of each track and the title metadata for each title. unshackle import reads it to reconstruct a download later, and gives each track only the content keys for its KIDs. The importer also reads the older unshackle version: 2 files and unidl's own export files.

Export track info and keys

unshackle dl --skip-dl --export EXAMPLE 81234567

Add --all-drm to get the content keys of each DRM system the title offers. The export then holds the DRM init data of both. A Key Vault that has a content key stops the challenge for its KID; add --cdm-only to send a challenge for each DRM system.

License with Widevine and PlayReady, no download

unshackle dl --skip-dl --all-drm --export EXAMPLE 81234567

The file name tells what the file holds, in the form {title}.{scope}.{resolutions}.{codecs}.{ranges}.{manifests}.{audio}-{SERVICE}.json:

Export	File name
A movie	`Example.Movie.2024.1080p.h264.sdr.hls.aac2.0-EXAMPLE.json`
A whole season	`Example.Show.S01.2160p.h265.sdr.hdr10.dash.dd5.1-EXAMPLE.json`
Episodes 5 to 9 and 12	`Example.Show.S01E05-E09.S01E12.1080p.h264.sdr.dash.aac2.0-EXAMPLE.json`

A dot separates each part and each word of the title. The name has no spaces or underscores. It does not follow your output_template: a template with spaces does not change the export name.
The scope is S01 only when the file holds every episode the service lists for that season. Otherwise it names each run of episodes. Whole seasons in a row become S01-S03. After three parts, +N counts the parts left out. A movie has no scope.
The quality parts come from the video and audio tracks selected for the titles in the file. Each value shows once.
unshackle renames the file after each write, so the name always matches what the file holds. When a run stops early, the file is complete for the titles it holds.
When another file already has the name, unshackle adds -2, -3, and so on. It never writes over another export.

The run logs the file name at the first write, the track and content key counts for each title, and at the end the path and the total counts.

The export holds a content key for each track your flags selected and no others. To make a file another person can use, select generously: for example -a AAC,EC3 and every language you want them to have. An import can only pick tracks whose key is in the file. A track that another tool exported as a direct file URL is added next to the manifest's own tracks. An export with no manifest, for example a unidl export of whole media files, gets all of its tracks from those URLs. If such an export does not give the title a language, orig has no value: select the languages with -l and -vl.

An import uses only the content keys in the file and in your vaults. It never gets a licence from a CDM. When a track needs a content key that neither has, the import stops and names the KID. To fix this, export the title again with that track selected.

The export file is a secret

It holds the content keys and usually a signed manifest URL. Hand it over on purpose, not by accident.

The mediaexport package specifies the mediaexport format and is the reader and writer unshackle uses.

Region is recorded only with a proxy

When you use --proxy, the export records the region so an import can reproduce the correct geofence. Without a proxy, the export stores no region.

Some DASH and Smooth exports need a title language

An import re-fetches the DASH or ISM manifest and parses it again. Most manifests label their own streams, and those import fine. When a manifest labels nothing, the parse falls back to the title's original language, which comes from Title.language on the exporting service. If a service never sets it, importing that export fails with a message naming the service. Neither end guesses a language for you, so the fix belongs in the service.

An HLS master playlist gives no language for a video track. When the export gives no title language, the video track takes the language of the default audio track. When the master playlist gives no audio language either, the import stops with a message.

Metadata and tagging¶

unshackle looks up metadata automatically, but you can override the identifiers used for tagging and naming. An ID you give is authoritative: unshackle looks it up directly instead of searching by title, and the ID stays in the tags. An ID only settles which title this is. To also take that source's title, year and original language, add --enrich. Give at most one of --tmdb, --imdb and --tvdb, and unshackle works the rest out from it. To stop the automatic lookups but keep the IDs you give, set disable_metadata in your config.

Flag	Example	Purpose
`--tmdb`	`--tmdb 27205`	Use this TMDB ID instead of an automatic search. Needs `tmdb_api_key`.
`--imdb`	`--imdb tt1375666`	Use this IMDb ID instead of an automatic search. Needs no API key.
`--tvdb`	`--tvdb 73871`	Use this TVDB ID instead of looking the series up. Needs `tvdb_api_key`.
`--anilist`	`--anilist 21`	Use this AniList ID instead of an automatic search. `mal:12345` is also accepted. Needs no API key.
`--enrich`	-	Overwrite the show title, year and original language with the external source's. Requires one of `--tmdb`, `--imdb`, `--tvdb`, or `--anilist`.
`--tvdb-order`	`--tvdb-order dvd`	Renumber episodes to a TVDB season order. Needs `tvdb_api_key`.

Force the right IMDb match, and keep the service's own naming

unshackle dl --imdb tt1375666 EXAMPLE 81234567

Force the match and take IMDb's title, year and language too

unshackle dl --imdb tt1375666 --enrich EXAMPLE 81234567

What each metadata provider supplies¶

Metadata providers differ in what they answer with, so the fields --enrich can replace depend on which ID you gave. Every metadata provider except imdb and anilist only operates when you set its config key:

Provider	Config key	Title and year	Original language	External IDs it returns
TMDB	`tmdb_api_key`	yes	yes, alpha-2 such as `ko`	IMDb, TMDB, TVDB
TVDB	`tvdb_api_key`	yes	yes, alpha-3 such as `kor`	TMDB, TVDB, sometimes IMDb
OMDb	`omdb_api_key`	yes	yes, as an English name such as `Korean`	IMDb
IMDb	(no config key needed)	yes	yes, alpha-2 such as `ko`	IMDb
SIMKL	`simkl_client_id`	yes	no, it publishes a country and no language	IMDb, TMDB, TVDB
AniList	(no config key needed)	yes	yes, worked out from the country of origin, such as `ja`	AniList

Whatever the tag looks like, unshackle normalises it before use, so ko, kor and Korean all end up as the same language.

AniList only answers for anime

It is last in the default metadata provider order and returns nothing for a title that is not anime. The only cost is one search that misses. Put anilist earlier in metadata_providers if you mostly download anime. anilist_title_language sets which of the three AniList title variants unshackle uses.

A service can also mark its titles as anime. For those titles unshackle tries AniList first. When AniList has no match, it falls through to the normal order.

Each ID goes to the providers that read that kind of ID, in metadata_providers order:

--tmdb reads TMDB.
--imdb reads IMDb, then falls back to OMDb. IMDb needs no API key, so this path works out of the box, and an OMDb API key only matters when IMDb has no answer.
--tvdb reads TVDB. It needs tvdb_api_key.
--anilist reads AniList, which needs no API key. It supplies the title, the year and the original language, and writes an AniList tag. It knows no TMDB, IMDB or TVDB ID, so pair it with --tmdb, --imdb or --tvdb when you want those tags as well.

Give one of --tmdb, --imdb and --tvdb. You cannot combine them, because one ID does the job on its own: unshackle finds the other two from it and writes all three to the tags. Passing two is an error rather than a silent choice between them. --anilist is the exception and still pairs with one of the three, which is how you tag an anime title with a western ID.

The ID you give must have a metadata provider that can find it, so unshackle makes sure of that before it downloads anything. --tmdb without tmdb_api_key, or an ID whose metadata providers your metadata_providers list leaves out, fails immediately with a message naming what to set. --imdb needs no API key, because the imdb metadata provider is keyless and in the default order.

With --enrich, the title, year and original language are all replaced with the external source's values, whether or not the service already filled them in. A field the source does not answer with is left alone, and unshackle logs which fields those were, so a metadata provider with a thin record cannot blank out what the service told you.

--enrich also fills in the absolute episode number of each episode from TVDB's absolute order, for any series that has one and where the service did not supply it. Anime is the usual beneficiary, but nothing here applies only to anime. This only adds the {absolute} naming variable. --enrich never changes the season and episode numbers.

With --daily, --enrich also fills in the air date of each episode from TVDB. See Daily and date-based content.

--enrich replaces the original language, which affects more than the filename

Track selection reads the original language, so replacing it changes which audio is treated as the original. That is the point when a service mislabels it, but it means a wrong ID can pick the wrong audio track and not only write a wrong name. Without --enrich, unshackle keeps the service's own value and does not change track selection.

Episode ordering¶

A service does not always number a series the way TVDB's aired order does. Some services use TVDB's alternate (Streaming) order for Futurama, for example, while TVDB's official order holds back four season-one episodes to the start of season two. --tvdb-order works out which order the service used, then renumbers the episodes into the order you asked for:

Download Futurama in DVD order

unshackle dl --tvdb-order dvd EXAMPLE 81234567

Available orders are official (aired), dvd, absolute, alternate, and regional. Set tvdb_order in your config to apply one by default.

Orders that do not cover the whole series

An order can leave out episodes the service carries. TVDB's dvd order does not contain Futurama's four movies. Those episodes keep their original numbering. If that would give two episodes the same season/episode slot, and so the same filename, unshackle logs an error and leaves the numbering untouched. Pick an order that covers the whole series.

Configuration defaults¶

You can set every flag on this page as a default in your configuration file so you do not have to type it each time, and you can scope defaults per service. See Configuration file for the dl: block and per-service overrides.

Explicit flags always win

A value you pass on the command line (or through an environment variable) always takes precedence over both the global dl: defaults and any per-service dl: overrides. Config only fills in options you did not set explicitly.

Quick reference¶

A condensed lookup of the most-used options. Use unshackle dl --help for the complete, authoritative list.

Flag	Short	Meaning
`--quality`	`-q`	Target resolution(s), e.g. `1080,720`.
`--vcodec`	`-v`	Video codec(s).
`--acodec`	`-a`	Audio codec(s).
`--range`	`-r`	Colour range(s). Default `SDR`.
`--channels`	`-c`	Audio channel layout.
`--noatmos`	`-naa`	Exclude Atmos audio.
`--lang`	`-l`	Video + audio language(s); default `orig`. `-` excludes, e.g. `all,-es`.
`--a-lang`	`-al`	Audio-only language override. `-` excludes.
`--v-lang`	`-vl`	Video-only language override. `-` excludes.
`--s-lang`	`-sl`	Subtitle language(s); default `all`. `-` excludes, e.g. `all,-es`.
`--forced-subs`	`-fs`	Include forced subtitles.
`--forced-s-lang`	`-fsl`	Forced subtitle language(s); implies `-fs`. `-` excludes.
`--sub-format`		Output subtitle format.
`--wanted`	`-w`	Episode/season range, an air date, or a track number for a music release (`1-5`, `2x3`).
`--daily`		Fill missing air dates from TVDB during `--enrich`.
`--select-titles`		Interactively pick episodes or films.
`--latest-episode`		Only the newest episode.
`--latest-episodes N`		Only the N newest episodes.
`--video-only` / `--audio-only` / `--subs-only`	`-V` / `-A` / `-S`	Restrict track types.
`--no-video` / `--no-audio` / `--no-subs` / `--no-chapters` / `--no-attachments`	`-nv` / `-na` / `-ns` / `-nc` / `-nt`	Skip track types.
`--worst`		Lowest bitrate within `-q`.
`--require-audio`		Audio languages that must exist. The title fails if one is missing.
`--require-video`		Video languages that must exist. The title fails if one is missing.
`--best-available`		Degrade gracefully instead of failing.
`--output`	`-o`	Output directory for this run.
`--split-audio` / `--merge-video` / `--no-mux`		Muxing behaviour.
`--postscript` / `--no-postscript`		Run a command after each output file, or run none.
`--proxy` / `--no-proxy` / `--no-proxy-download` / `--proxy-download`		Proxy control.
`--workers` / `--downloads` / `--slow`		Concurrency and pacing.
`--list` / `--list-titles` / `--skip-dl`		Dry runs.
`--cdm-only` / `--vaults-only`		Content key source control.
`--cdm <name>`		Pin one CDM device, bypassing the `cdm` config mapping.
`--export`		Export track info and keys to JSON.
`--tmdb` / `--imdb` / `--tvdb` / `--anilist` / `--enrich`		Metadata overrides.
`--tvdb-order`		Renumber episodes to a TVDB season order.