Installation

twitch-dl requires Python 3.8 or later.

Prerequisite: FFmpeg

FFmpeg is used to join vods into a single video file.

To check if FFmpeg is available, run:

ffmpeg -version

The version number and some info should be printed.

ffmpeg version 4.3.2-0+deb11u2 Copyright (c) 2000-2021 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 10 (Debian 10.2.1-6)

To install FFmpeg see FFmpeg documentation.

Option 1: Download standalone archive

Go to the latest release and download the twitch-dl.<version>.pyz archive.

Run the archive by either:

a) passing it to python:

python3 twitch-dl.1.13.0.pyz --help

b) making it executable and invoking it directly (linux specific):

chmod +x twitch-dl.1.13.0.pyz
./twitch-dl.1.13.0.pyz --help

Feel free to rename the archive to something more managable, like twitch-dl.

To upgrade to a newer version, repeat the process with the newer release.

Option 2: Install from PYPI using pipx

pipx is a tool which installs python apps into isolated environments, which prevents all kinds of problems later so it's the suggested way to install twitch-dl from PYPI.

Install pipx as described in pipx install docs.

Install twitch-dl:

pipx install twitch-dl

Install with the optional dependencies for rendering chat:

pipx install "twitch-dl[chat]"

Check installation worked:

twitch-dl --version

If twitch-dl executable is not found, check that the pipx binary location (by default ~/.local/bin) is in your PATH.

To upgrade twitch-dl to the latest version:

pipx upgrade twitch-dl