unshackle/docs/reference/configuration/download.md

Download & processing

dl

• Type: dict  ·  Default: {}

Persistent defaults for the dl command. unshackle uses the block as Click's default_map, so you can give any dl flag a default here. See Downloading and the CLI Reference for what each flag does.

Config key naming. A config key is the flag's long name with dashes replaced by underscores (--best-available → best_available, --sub-format → sub_format). A few config keys use the flag's internal destination and not its visible name. Set these exact config keys:

Flag	Config key
-r / --range	range
--list	list
--tmdb	tmdb_id
--imdb	imdb_id
--anilist	anilist_id
-naa / --noatmos	no_atmos
-o / --output	output_dir
--cdm-only / --vaults-only	cdm_only

Precedence (highest first): an explicit CLI flag → a per-service services.<TAG>.dl override → this global dl: block → the built-in default. In other words, config only fills in options you did not set on the command line.

Common config keys. This is a useful subset, and every dl flag works:

Key	Type	Default	Sets
lang	list	["orig"]	Video/audio language(s); orig = original language. A - prefix excludes, e.g. [all, -es].
a_lang / v_lang	list	[]	Audio- / video-only language override. A - prefix excludes.
s_lang	list	["all"]	Subtitle language(s). A - prefix excludes, e.g. [all, -es].
quality	list	[] (best)	Resolution(s), e.g. [1080].
vcodec	list	[] (any)	Video codec(s), e.g. [H265].
acodec	list	[] (any)	Audio codec(s), e.g. [EC3].
range	list	["SDR"]	Colour range(s): SDR, HLG, HDR10, HDR10P, DV, HYBRID.
channels	float	(unset)	Audio channels, e.g. 6 for 5.1.
sub_format	str	(unset)	Convert subtitles to this format (srt, vtt, original, ...).
forced_subs	bool	false	Include forced subtitle tracks.
forced_s_lang	list	[]	Forced subtitle language(s); implies forced_subs. A - prefix excludes.
forced_subs_only	bool	false	Keep only forced subtitle tracks; implies forced_subs.
audio_description	bool	false	Include descriptive (audio-description) tracks.
audio_description_only	bool	false	Keep only descriptive (audio-description) tracks.
no_subs / no_audio / no_chapters / no_attachments	bool	false	Skip that track type. no_attachments also skips attaching subtitle fonts.
downloads	int	1	Tracks downloaded concurrently.
workers	int	(downloader default)	Threads per track.
speed_limit	str	(unlimited)	Total download speed cap across all downloads combined, e.g. 500k, 5M, 1.5G or plain bytes/sec. Values are bytes, not bits (5M = 5.0 MB/s).
slow	str	(unset)	Inter-title delay, e.g. "20-40".
best_available	bool	false	Warn instead of failing when a requested resolution, range, or language is missing, or when one DRM system does not license under --all-drm. The CLI flag is --best-available, also spelled --warn-only.
generate_dv	bool	false	With -r HYBRID, make Dolby Vision from the HDR10+ metadata when a title has no DV track. Needs hdr10plus_tool. See Dolby Vision from HDR10+.
proxy	str	(unset)	Default proxy URI or 2-letter country.
no_folder	bool	false	Do not create a per-title folder.

!!! note "no and yes are language tags" YAML reads a bare no as false and a bare yes as true. unshackle puts both back to the tags no (Norwegian) and yes (Nyankpa) in every config key that takes a language: lang, v_lang, a_lang, s_lang, forced_s_lang, require_audio, require_video, require_subs, language_priority, muxing.default_language and the language_tags rules. Quotes (lang: "no") work as well.

dl:
  lang: [en]
  quality: [1080]
  range: [HDR10]
  vcodec: [H265]
  sub_format: srt
  downloads: 2

!!! note "Language exclusions in YAML" The language keys accept the same - exclusion tokens as the command line. Give them as a list or as one comma-separated string.

```yaml
dl:
  s_lang: [all, -es]
  a_lang: "orig,-es"
```

See [Excluding languages](../../guide/downloading.md#excluding-languages) for the rules.

!!! note "Per-service overrides" A dl block nested under a service in services takes the same keys and applies to that service only.

```yaml
dl:
  lang: [en]
services:
  EXAMPLE1:
    dl:
      lang: [en, ja]
      range: [DV]
```

!!! note "serve uses these same keys" The serve block accepts most of the same dl option keys at its top level to set server-wide download defaults for every request it handles. The API ignores the config keys it does not know there, speed_limit for example. serve has its own global_speed_limit.

continue_downloads

• Type: bool  ·  Default: false

Keep a failed download's completed segment files so the next download resumes from where it stopped instead of restarting from byte zero.

unshackle keeps the segments of a failed track in a resume directory inside the temp directory, and the next download of the same track takes them back from there. It removes a kept entry after 7 days, and unshackle env clear temp removes them all. A process that is killed, or a job cancelled over the REST API, keeps nothing.

unshackle reuses only whole, fully downloaded segments. It always discards partially written segments, and no partial-byte (Range) resume across runs takes place. Reuse is possible only with proof that the segmentation did not change. The manifest URL, segment count, and byte ranges must all match the previous download, or the download silently restarts clean.

!!! note "What can and cannot resume" - Segmented DASH, ISM, and HLS tracks resume. - Single-file (non-segmented) downloads and DASH tracks collapsed to a single ranged download never make segment files, so this option does not apply to them (the downloader has its own in-flight partial-file handling for those). - HLS resumes Widevine/PlayReady and unencrypted titles only. An AES-128 title always restarts. An HLS failure during the post-download merge step also restarts. - A track downloaded with merge_segments or decrypt_segments never resumes. Both options consume or rewrite the segment files during the download.

For a one-off resume without changing config, pass dl --continue-downloads on the command line (the flag can only enable resume, never disable it).

continue_downloads: true

merge_segments

• Type: bool  ·  Default: false

Appends each segment to the output file as soon as it and every segment before it have arrived, instead of joining all the segment files after the last one lands. The join runs during the download, so the "Merging" step after the last segment goes away. The output file is the same either way.

Segments arrive out of order because the workers run in parallel. unshackle keeps a cursor on the next segment it needs and appends every segment that is ready in order, then deletes the segment file. With decrypt_segments also on, each segment is appended after its decryption completes, never before.

This option is off by default because it disables resume, and because its cost during the download is not measured. The append reads each segment straight after a worker wrote it, so the read usually comes from the page cache. On a hard disk, the append to one file while the workers write many segment files can still make the head seek. If a download gets slower with the option on, turn it off.

This applies to video and audio tracks from DASH, ISM, and HLS. An HLS track qualifies only when every segment shares one init segment and one EXT-X-KEY, with no EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY, and the DRM is Widevine, PlayReady, or none. AES-128 tracks, tracks with content key rotation or discontinuities, and subtitle tracks keep the merge after the download.

!!! note "No resume"

A track that merges segment by segment always downloads from the start.
[`continue_downloads`](#continue_downloads) cannot reuse its segments, because unshackle
deletes each segment after it appends it.

merge_segments: true

subtitle

• Type: dict  ·  Default: {}

Subtitle handling: SDH stripping, format conversion, and whether unshackle muxes the subtitles in or writes them as sidecar files. See Subtitles for the full guide.

Sub-key	Type	Default	Description
strip_sdh	bool	true	Strip SDH/CC cues (hearing-impaired annotations) into a clean track.
sdh_method	str	"auto"	SDH-stripping backend to use.
preserve_formatting	bool	true	Pass WebVTT cue text through as written. false re-encodes it through pycaption, which merges identical cues but flattens styling. unshackle removes WebVTT-only cue markup either way.
convert_before_strip	bool	true	Convert to the working format before stripping SDH.
conversion_method	str	"auto"	Subtitle conversion backend.
output_mode	str	"mux"	mux embeds subtitles in the MKV; sidecar writes separate files; both writes sidecars and still muxes.
sidecar_format	str	"srt"	Format for sidecar files when output_mode is sidecar or both.
type_priority	list	(unset)	Ordered ranking of subtitle types (forced, normal, sdh; CC counts as SDH). Types you leave out fall to the end.
group_by	str	"type"	Which key groups the subtitle tracks. type puts all forced tracks together, then all normal, then all SDH. language keeps each language next to its own variants.
language_priority	list	(unset)	Languages to sort to the top, in the order you give. The rest keep the default order: original language first, then alphabetical. Nothing is removed.

subtitle:
  strip_sdh: true
  output_mode: sidecar
  sidecar_format: srt

!!! note "group_by track order" | group_by | Result | |---|---| | type | Danish, Finnish, French, … Danish SDH, Finnish SDH, French SDH | | language | Danish, Danish SDH, Finnish, Finnish SDH, French, French SDH |

`type_priority` still sets the order of the variants, so with `group_by: language` it
controls the order inside each language.

!!! note "language_priority sorts languages, it does not select them" yaml subtitle: group_by: language language_priority: [en, es, fr]

| | Result for an English title |
|---|---|
| Default | English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Spanish, French, Japanese |
| With the list above | English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Bulgarian, Japanese |

unshackle removes nothing, unlike `-sl`, which drops every subtitle language it does not name.

Use `orig` in the list for the title's original language. A base tag puts the variant it
means first and its other regional forms after it, so `en` sorts `en-US` and then
`en-GB`, but `zh` does **not** cover `zh-Hant`, which you must name. A tag with a region sorts only that variant, so
`[en-US]` puts `en-US` before `en-GB`. The sort ignores entries that match no track, and
it ignores entries that are not valid language tags.

`--exact-lang` applies here too: with it, `en` sorts only the variant it means, and
`en-GB` falls to the alphabetical tail with the rest. Name each tag you want when you use
that flag.

!!! note "type_priority picks the default subtitle only with muxing.default_language" At mux time the default flag goes to every forced subtitle whose language matches the first audio track, so a full dialogue track never becomes default on its own. type_priority alone does not change that. Name a subtitle language in muxing.default_language and the first track in that language gets the flag instead, which is where type_priority decides which track that is:

```yaml
muxing:
  default_language:
    subtitle: en
subtitle:
  type_priority: [normal, sdh, forced]
```

audio

• Type: dict  ·  Default: {}

Audio handling options. The most notable sub-key is codec_priority, an ordered list of audio codecs used to break ties in track selection. language_priority is an ordered list of languages that sort to the top of the audio tracks.

audio:
  codec_priority:
    - EAC3
    - AC3
  language_priority:
    - orig
    - en

!!! note "codec_priority is a soft priority: nothing is dropped" codec_priority outranks bitrate: any listed codec sorts above every unlisted one, and among listed codecs the list order decides. Bitrate order survives only within a single codec rank. Nothing is ever removed. Two higher-level rules still override it: Atmos tracks always take precedence over codec_priority, and audio-description tracks are always forced to the end regardless of it. When codec_priority is unset, tracks sort by bitrate alone, with those same Atmos/descriptive rules still applied.

muxing

• Type: dict  ·  Default: {}

Matroska (MKV) muxing options.

Sub-key	Type	Default	Description
set_title	bool	true	Write a human-readable title into the MKV container.
default_language	dict	{}	Force which language is flagged default per track type, e.g. {audio: en, subtitle: en}. A tag with a region, such as en-US, matches only that variant.
merge_audio	bool	true	Merge all audio into one file. --split-audio on the CLI flips this off.
merge_video	bool	false	Merge video tracks that share height, range, and codec into one file, so only language varies inside a file. --merge-video on the CLI flips this on.
track_names	str	english	The language of the name unshackle gives a track that the service left unnamed: english (Chinese (Traditional)), native, the name in the language itself (中文（繁體）), or none, which leaves the track unnamed. Read Track names and language tags.
original_label	str	unset	Text that unshackle adds after the name of an audio or subtitle track in the title's original language, such as [Original]. Read Track names and language tags.
concurrency	int	4	How many mkvmerge processes run at the same time when a title muxes more than one output file (one per video variant or audio codec). Each process uses one CPU core, so this shortens the mux step on an SSD. Set it to 1 on a hard disk, where parallel writes are slower.

muxing:
  set_title: true
  concurrency: 4
  default_language:
    audio: en
    subtitle: en

language_tags

• Type: dict  ·  Default: {}

Language-tag remapping and the rule engine behind the {lang_tag} filename variable. When a rules list is present, unshackle evaluates each rule in order and uses the first match's tag. A rule can examine:

Condition	Meaning
audio	At least one audio language matches.
audio_contain_all	Every listed language must be present in the audio.
subs_contain	At least one subtitle language matches.
subs_contain_all	Every listed language must be present in the subtitles.
dual / multi / dubbed	true matches when that filename variable is set, false when it is not.

Each language condition takes one language tag or a list of them. A list matches when any entry matches, except audio_contain_all and subs_contain_all, which need them all. An empty list never matches. An entry that is not a valid language tag (for example japanese) never matches. A tag with a region matches only that variant, so audio: es-419 does not match es-ES audio. dual, multi and dubbed take a bare true or false, not a quoted string. unshackle skips a rule with a condition name it does not know, or with any other value in a boolean condition. It logs a warning in each of these cases and tries the next rule.

dual, multi and dubbed carry the same meaning as the filename variables of those names. Pair one with a language to name a release yourself, in place of the fixed DUAL, MULTi and DUBBED text. A rule that names dubbed: true and a language tags a localized dub without tagging a native release the same way.

language_tags:
  rules:
    - audio: [ja]
      subs_contain: [en]
      tag: "SUBBED"
    - audio: th
      dubbed: true
      tag: "THAIDUB"
    - audio: th
      dual: true
      tag: "THAIDUAL"

unshackle examines the rules in order, so put a rule that needs more languages before a rule that needs fewer. Here, a release with both French dubs gets VF2, not VFQ:

language_tags:
  rules:
    - audio_contain_all: [fr-FR, fr-CA]
      tag: "VF2"
    - audio: fr-CA
      tag: "VFQ"
    - audio: fr-FR
      tag: "VFF"

!!! tip "Give regional tags in an _all list" A tag without a region also matches a regional track, so one fr-CA track satisfies both entries of [fr, fr-CA]. Use [fr-FR, fr-CA] to require two different tracks.

!!! note "Put {lang_tag} where you want the name" These rules fill {lang_tag}. To use your own name in place of the fixed text, keep {lang_tag?} in the template and leave out {dual?}, {multi?} and {dubbed?}.

dual_multi_mode

• Type: str  ·  Default: strict

Rule set for the {dual}, {multi}, and {dubbed} filename variables.

=== "strict (default)"

| Variable | Set when |
|----------|----------|
| `{dual}` | Exactly two audio languages **and one is the title's original language**. |
| `{multi}` | Three or more audio languages, even without the original. |
| `{dubbed}` | A single audio language that is not the title's original language (requires a known original). |

=== "count (legacy)"

| Variable | Set when |
|----------|----------|
| `{dual}` | Exactly two audio languages (original language ignored). |
| `{multi}` | Three or more audio languages. |
| `{dubbed}` | Never set. |

dual_multi_mode: strict

!!! note "Dialects count as one language" Regional variants of the same base language (e.g. en-US and en-GB) collapse to a single language in both modes, so they never trigger {dual} on their own.

hdr10plus_probe

• Type: bool  ·  Default: true

Find the HDR10+ tracks that a service labels as HDR10. Before unshackle lists or selects tracks, it reads the first fragment of HEVC HDR10 tracks from DASH, HLS fMP4 and one-file sources. A track whose first frame carries HDR10+ (SMPTE ST 2094-40) metadata becomes HDR10P. Then -r HDR10P, --list and --generate-dv use it.

unshackle also probes HEVC Dolby Vision tracks. A DV track that carries HDR10+ keeps its DV range, so -r DV selects it, and --list shows it as DV+HDR10P. -r HYBRID uses it as the hybrid of its resolution, with no base track. The HDR10 tracks and the DV tracks of a title are sampled as two separate sets.

When two HDR10 tracks have the same resolution, they can be an HDR10 encode and an HDR10+ encode side by side, so unshackle probes every track. When each track has its own resolution, unshackle probes the two highest and the two lowest bitrates first:

Result	Action
All four carry HDR10+	Every HDR10 track of the title becomes HDR10P.
Some carry HDR10+	The title has HDR10 and HDR10+ encodes side by side, so unshackle probes every track.
None carry HDR10+	Every track stays HDR10.

A probe that fails, or a fragment whose metadata is encrypted, keeps the label from the service. unshackle does not probe ISM tracks. Each probe makes one to three small requests: the 64 KiB fragment, plus the playlist of an HLS track or the header of a one-file track. The probes run in parallel, with no more at a time than --workers (or dl.workers) sets for a track download.

hdr10plus_probe: true

A remote server probes its tracks before it sends them, so the setting on the server applies to remote downloads and to the REST API.

generate_dv_mode

• Type: str  ·  Default: v29

How --generate-dv sets the Level 1 brightness values of the Dolby Vision it makes from HDR10+. All modes make one shot per HDR10+ scene and keep the same peak and letterbox area. They differ in the scene average, which the TV uses to tone-map.

Mode	Scene average
v29 (default)	unshackle's average from the HDR10+ brightness distribution, at least about 2.4 nits. Closest to the pixels.
v40	The same average, at least about 10 nits, as in studio Dolby Vision (CM v4.0). Dark scenes read brighter than v29.
legacy	The dovi_tool generate --hdr10plus-json average. Most scenes read brighter than the pixels.

generate_dv_mode: v29

The setting applies on the machine that runs the hybrid step: the client for a remote download, the server for a REST API job.