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, run 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 all the flags below are parsed), and a service tag subcommand that carries the title argument.

unshackle dl [OPTIONS] SERVICE [SERVICE ARGUMENTS]

unshackle: the root command.
dl: the download command. All of the options on this page are parsed 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 the positional argument is defined by each service, run unshackle dl SERVICE --help (e.g. unshackle dl EXAMPLE --help) to see that service's own argument and any service-specific options.

The download flow¶

When you run a download, dl moves through the pipeline below. Understanding the order helps explain why, for example, --list stops early and why keys are fetched 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, 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: acquire 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 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 has an exact matching height, unshackle falls back to a 16:9-canvas match, so -q 1080 will also match an anamorphic 1920×804 track (computed as int(width × 9 / 16)).

Best-available and worst¶

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

Flag	Behaviour
`--best-available`	If the requested resolution(s) aren't present, continue with the best that is available instead of failing. Also softens missing video/audio/subtitle languages and hybrid fallbacks.
`--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 color 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`

Either spelling works

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

Color range¶

-r / --range selects one or more color 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 produces a single hybrid stream by injecting the Dolby Vision RPU metadata onto an HDR10/HDR10+ base layer using dovi_tool. It requires the dovi_tool binary, resolved from unshackle's binaries/ folder 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 it is preferred 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

--vbitrate cannot be combined 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 stream'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

A single-file track (DASH SegmentBase/BaseURL) is measured 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. Only the five highest declared-bitrate renditions of each quality tier are probed in parallel (video grouped by codec and range, audio by codec, channels, language, and descriptive flag), and unshackle 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. Tracks whose duration can't be determined fall back to ffprobe, and a probe failure is non-fatal: the manifest value is simply left 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
`ALAC`	`ALAC`	Apple Lossless
`FLAC`	`FLAC`	FLAC

Names, values, and a few aliases are accepted: eac3 and ddp both resolve to EC3, and vorbis resolves to OGG.

Prefer Dolby Digital Plus, fall back to AAC

unshackle dl -a EC3,AAC EXAMPLE 81234567

Channels and Atmos¶

-c / --channels: desired channel layout, e.g. 5.1 or 2.0. Matching is by ceiling, so 5.1 implicitly matches a 6.0-reported layout.
-naa / --noatmos: exclude Dolby Atmos audio tracks from selection.

5.1 audio, no Atmos

unshackle dl -c 5.1 --noatmos EXAMPLE 0ABC123

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

The special token orig is resolved to the title's actual original language everywhere it is used. You can override each stream 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

The exclusions are subtracted 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 stream 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 is resolved per title, so -sl -orig drops the subtitles in the title's original language.
--exact-lang applies to exclusions with the same matching rules as selection: -es removes exactly the tracks that es would select. Without it, -es also removes es-419 and es-ES.
Tracks with no language tag are never excluded.
-all is rejected. 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. Nothing is removed. 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¶

By default language matching is fuzzy: -l en also accepts en-US, en-GB, etc. (up to a small distance). Pass --exact-lang to require an exact match: with it, -l es-419 matches only es-419, not es-ES.

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, meaning every available subtitle language is downloaded.

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 they all exist, all subtitles are downloaded; if any is missing, the title fails. This is useful for gating a download on the presence of a specific subtitle track.

Cannot combine with --s-lang

--require-subs and --s-lang are mutually exclusive. Use one or the other.

Forced subtitles and output format¶

-fs / --forced-subs: include forced subtitle tracks (signs/foreign dialogue). Without this flag, forced subs are dropped from 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.
--sub-format: set the output subtitle format, converting only when necessary. Accepts codec names/values and common aliases (srt, vtt, ass, ssa, ttml, etc.), 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 is marked SDH (for the deaf/hard-of-hearing) and there is no plain same-language subtitle, unshackle produces a stripped, non-SDH variant automatically. This behaviour is governed by the subtitle.strip_sdh config option (default on).

Selecting episodes¶

For series, several flags control which episodes are downloaded. By default, all episodes are downloaded.

Wanted ranges¶

-w / --wanted accepts flexible season/episode ranges, comma-separated. Prefix a token with - to exclude it.

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

Daily and date-based content¶

Talk shows, news and sports have no official episode numbering, so unshackle names them by air date. An episode that carries an air date is written 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 content 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. Dates before 1970 and dates in the future are skipped, 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 key. 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. Date tokens and SxxExx tokens can be mixed 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. S01E01.1-S01E02.3 is rejected, because the parser cannot know how many parts episode 1 has and so cannot work out where the range ends. To span episodes, list 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. Run --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.
`--list-titles`	List every title the service returned, then stop. `-w`/`--latest-episode` are not applied to this listing.

Grab just the newest episode

unshackle dl --latest-episode 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

Additional track-type flags:

-ad / --audio-description: include descriptive (audio-description) tracks, which are dropped by default.
--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.

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 (e.g. 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` are not applied to this listing.
`--skip-dl`	Skip downloading but still acquire the decryption keys.

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 the configured downloads directory is used).
--no-folder: do not create 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, tracks are muxed into a single Matroska (.mkv) file with mkvmerge. These flags change how the output is assembled:

Flag	Behaviour	Default source
`--no-mux`	Do not mux; keep the individual track files.	-
`--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)

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 2-letter country code (resolved through your configured proxy providers), or a provider:region form.

Proxy forms

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

Two 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 the proxy is only needed to satisfy geo-checks, not to move the bulk of the data.

Performance and caching¶

Flag	Purpose
`--workers N`	Threads used per track for segment downloads. Default depends on the downloader.
`--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 key when the vault misses. You can force one side or the other:

--cdm-only: only use the CDM (skip vaults).
--vaults-only: only use key vaults (never license via the CDM); a missing key fails.

Fetch keys only, no download

unshackle dl --skip-dl EXAMPLE 81234567

--export writes a JSON file, into the configured exports directory, containing track info and the acquired content keys for each title. This is the format consumed by unshackle import to reconstruct a download later.

Export track info and keys

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

Region is recorded only with a proxy

When --proxy is used, the export records the region so an import can reproduce the correct geofence. Without a proxy, no region is stored.

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.

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; 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 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 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¶

Providers differ in what they answer with, so the fields --enrich can replace depend on which ID you gave. Every provider except imdb only runs when its key is configured:

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 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 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 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. Which of the three AniList title variants is used is set by anilist_title_language.

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 key, so this path works out of the box, and an OMDb key only matters when IMDb has no answer.
--tvdb reads TVDB. It needs tvdb_api_key.
--anilist reads AniList, which needs no 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. They cannot be combined, because one ID does the job on its own: unshackle resolves 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 provider that can actually resolve it, so unshackle checks that before it downloads anything. --tmdb without tmdb_api_key, or an ID whose providers your metadata_providers list leaves out, fails immediately with a message naming what to set. --imdb needs no key, since the imdb 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 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 no part of this is limited to anime. This only adds the {absolute} naming variable. The season and episode numbers are never changed.

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 the service's own value is kept and track selection is untouched.

Episode ordering¶

A service does not always number a series the way TVDB's aired order does. Some services list Futurama in TVDB's alternate (Streaming) order, 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 list 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¶

Every flag on this page can be set as a default in your configuration file so you don't have to type it each time, and defaults can be scoped 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 via an environment variable) always takes precedence over both the global dl: defaults and any per-service dl: overrides. Config only fills in options you didn't set explicitly.

Quick reference¶

A condensed lookup of the most-used options. Run 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`	Color 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, or an air date.
`--daily`		Fill missing air dates from TVDB during `--enrich`.
`--select-titles`		Interactively pick episodes or films.
`--latest-episode`		Only the newest episode.
`--video-only` / `--audio-only` / `--subs-only`	`-V` / `-A` / `-S`	Restrict track types.
`--no-video` / `--no-audio` / `--no-subs` / `--no-chapters`	`-nv` / `-na` / `-ns` / `-nc`	Skip track types.
`--worst`		Lowest bitrate within `-q`.
`--best-available`		Degrade gracefully instead of failing.
`--output`	`-o`	Output directory for this run.
`--split-audio` / `--merge-video` / `--no-mux`		Muxing behaviour.
`--proxy` / `--no-proxy` / `--no-proxy-download`		Proxy control.
`--workers` / `--downloads` / `--slow`		Concurrency and pacing.
`--list` / `--list-titles` / `--skip-dl`		Dry runs.
`--cdm-only` / `--vaults-only`		Key source control.
`--export`		Export track info and keys to JSON.
`--tmdb` / `--imdb` / `--tvdb` / `--anilist` / `--enrich`		Metadata overrides.
`--tvdb-order`		Renumber episodes to a TVDB season order.