yt-dlp Instagram HDR

A yt-dlp plugin that adds HDR formats for Instagram Reels, Stories, and video posts.

Supports VP9 Profile 2 and AV1 10-bit HDR. By default, the format list combines all HDR video formats found by the plugin with all formats returned by yt-dlp's built-in Instagram extractor. xHE-AAC is excluded unless explicitly enabled. Video and audio are merged without re-encoding and the HDR video is verified with ffprobe.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• yt-dlp 2026.08.19+
• FFmpeg
• Authenticated Instagram cookies

Installation

First, identify how yt-dlp was installed.

macOS

command -v yt-dlp
pipx list
python3 -m pip show yt-dlp
brew list --versions yt-dlp

Linux

command -v yt-dlp
pipx list
python3 -m pip show yt-dlp

Windows (PowerShell)

Get-Command yt-dlp
pipx list
py -m pip show yt-dlp

Use the result that matches your output:

Package(s) not found, nothing has been installed with pipx, and No such keg are negative results; continue to the next check. If command -v or Get-Command cannot find yt-dlp, install yt-dlp first.

If more than one check finds yt-dlp, use the manual method to avoid installing the plugin into the wrong Python environment.

pip

macOS/Linux:

python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp-instagram-hdr

Windows:

py -m pip install -U yt-dlp-instagram-hdr

pipx

pipx inject yt-dlp yt-dlp-instagram-hdr --force

Manual

Download the latest .whl from Releases, and place it, without extracting it, in:

• macOS/Linux: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/yt-dlp/plugins/, or ~/.config/yt-dlp/plugins/ when it is not set
• Windows: %APPDATA%/yt-dlp/plugins/

Usage

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome <video_url>

List available formats with -F:

yt-dlp -F --cookies-from-browser chrome <video_url>

You can also use a cookie file:

yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt <video_url>

Without authenticated cookies, the plugin shows a warning and falls back to yt-dlp's built-in Instagram extractor. It also uses the built-in extractor's regular formats when authenticated media has no HDR representation.

Plugin options

Disable the HDR plugin and force yt-dlp's built-in Instagram extractor:

yt-dlp --extractor-args "instagramhdr:disable" <video_url>

Include the xHE-AAC (mp4a.40.42) audio formats found in the HDR manifest:

yt-dlp --extractor-args "instagramhdr:include_xhe_aac" -F <video_url>

These instagramhdr options apply to Reels, posts, and Stories. Boolean values can be disabled explicitly, for example instagramhdr:disable=false.

License

MIT © 2026 Vinicius Roncetti