I don't understand some of the quality and thumbnail settings for yt-dlp

[Cyber Akuma]

I have been using yt-dlp for years now, but even with that and with attempting to Google this there are still some things I don't understand, the two big ones being these:

First is that I normally I try to download videos off YouTube in a MP4 container (H264 and AAC codecs). I am a little confused about the standard available formats listed however when I use -F. Most 720p videos have a 298 ID, but they usually also have a 311 ID. Both these streams according to -F are AVC1, but it usually claims that 311 is significantly larger (generally by about double) than the 298 stream, it also claims 298 uses https while 311 is m3u8. However, if I attempted to download the same video using 298+140 and then 311+140, the two files are nearly identical, just about 3 or so megabytes of difference, and this difference seems to be the same regardless if the downloaded file is just a few megs or a few gigs. Same for 1080p videos with 299 and 312. What is the difference between these exactly? Also, is 140 the best option for audio here if I am downloading to a MP4 container?

Second is in regards to thumbnails. I know that --write-thumbnail will download the thumbnails themselves, but as separate files. Is there any way to make it actually write the thumbnail to the video file instead of download it as a separate image?

[G.T.X.R]

I use this script to quickly and neatly see the available formats: "-TEST-FORMATS-.cmd" * disable automatic line wrap...

@echo off

set video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5zLo2nGdKY

echo.%video%| sed "s/^http.*=\(.*\)$/\1/;" > "id-yt.txt"

for /f "tokens=* delims=*" %%i in (id-yt.txt) do (

yt-dlp -F "%video%"| sed "/\[youtube\]/d; /\[info\]/d; s/\n/\n/g; s/\(HDR, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(medium, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(mhtml [0-9]*x180 *[0-9] *| *mhtml | images *storyboard\)/\1\n/; s/\(2160p60, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(1440p60, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(1080p60, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(720p60, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(2160p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(1440p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(1080p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(720p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(480p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(360p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(240p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/; s/\(144p, webm_dash\)/\1\n/;" > "%%i.txt"

del "id-yt.txt"

if exist "%%i.txt" start "" "%%i.txt"

)
exit

Anyway, m3u8 does not provide size and bitrate metadata so yt-dlp must make an estimate indicated by the ~ in front.

https 299+140 => 1,60 GB (1.727.136.100 byte)
m3u8 312+140 => 1,60 GB (1.728.266.292 byte)

Audio 140 seems to be the best; audio 140-drc (dynamic range compression) further reduces the dynamics.

[Cyber Akuma]

Audio 140 seem to be the best; 140-drc (dynamic range compression) further reduces the dynamics.

So I would use something like "yt-dlp -f 299+140-drc [youtubeuelhere]" ?

Also, can't you just use -F to see the available formats? That's what I have been doing for years.

[G.T.X.R]

It seems that 140-drc is some sort of audio normalization. Usually, maybe it's better to adopt the original (140).

Certainly -F is sufficient but I prefer to represent the formats on the text file with grouped data.

[G.T.X.R]

Second is in regards to thumbnails. I know that --write-thumbnail will download the thumbnails themselves, but as separate files. Is there any way to make it actually write the thumbnail to the video file instead of download it as a separate image?

Not sure, but try: " --embed-thumbnail" instead of: " --write-thumbnail".