Formats

When you open the Download Card the app fetches the formats available for that item and automatically selects one based on your preferences. You can tap the format card in the Audio or Video tab to choose a different one.

Reading a format card

Each format shows:

• Container such as mp4, webm, m4a or opus
• Quality / resolution such as 1080p or 128kbps
• Codec and file size as chips
• Format ID, the number yt-dlp uses to identify it

Selecting a format

The format selection sheet lists every format, with a few ways to organize them.

• Format order sorts the list by File size, Container, Codec or ID.
• Format filter shows All formats, only the Suggested ones, or the Smallest format (per resolution).

These are set in More -> Settings -> Updating under the Format category.

Generic formats

If the app can't fetch the formats, or when you use Don't fetch data, it falls back to generic formats that are not tied to a site:

• Video: Best quality, ~2160p, ~1440p, ~1080p, ~720p, ~480p, ~360p, ~240p, Worst quality
• Audio: Best quality, ~192kbps, ~160kbps, ~128kbps, ~96kbps, ~64kbps, Worst quality

The app translates these to a yt-dlp format selector, so the actual quality will be the closest one available for the website.

How the app auto-selects a format

The default format is picked using these preferences in More -> Settings -> Processing:

Setting	Effect
Video quality	The target resolution, from best to worst.
Preferred video codec	AV1, VP9, AVC (H264) or HEVC (H265).
Preferred audio codec	M4A or OPUS.
Preferred audio language	Picks the audio track in that language when the item has several.
Preferred format ID	If the item has a format with this ID, it is selected. Separate for audio and video.
Preferred Format Size	Prefer the Smallest or the Largest format. Separate for video and audio.
Prefer DRC audio	Prefer audio with dynamic range compression.

Format importance order

In More -> Settings -> Advanced you can enable Use format importance ordering and decide in what order the app weighs the properties of a format. This order is only used when the app fetches formats in the download card and auto-selects one.

• Video: Preferred format ID, Video quality, Codec, Video with no audio, Container, File size
• Audio: Preferred format ID, Language, Codec, Container, File size

Drag the elements around to change what matters most to you.

Formats source

For YouTube, the formats can be fetched with yt-dlp or with NewPipe. Change it with Formats source in More -> Settings -> General.

Update formats

Update formats in More -> Settings -> Updating fetches the formats as soon as the download card appears. If you open the card for an item with no format data you can also tap the update button in the card to fetch it.

Audio-only items

Some items only contain audio formats. The app tells you this in the card and only lets you pick audio formats.

Container vs. format

The container setting is not the same as choosing a format. A format is what exists on the website. The container converts the downloaded format into another file type after the download is complete. Converting a low quality format into another container does not improve the quality.