How to: RELEASE FILES
#### Recommended

File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win8+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)

#### Alternatives

File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux (glibc 2.17+) standalone x86_64 binary
[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (glibc 2.17+) x86_64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux (glibc 2.17+) standalone aarch64 binary
[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (glibc 2.17+) aarch64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (glibc 2.31+) armv7l executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_musllinux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux)|Linux (musl 1.2+) standalone x86_64 binary
[yt-dlp_musllinux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (musl 1.2+) x86_64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64)|Linux (musl 1.2+) standalone aarch64 binary
[yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_musllinux_aarch64.zip)|Unpackaged Linux (musl 1.2+) aarch64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Win8+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
[yt-dlp_win_x86.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win_x86.zip)|Unpackaged Windows (Win8+) x86 (32-bit) executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_arm64.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_arm64.exe)|Windows (Win10+) standalone ARM64 binary
[yt-dlp_win_arm64.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win_arm64.zip)|Unpackaged Windows (Win10+) ARM64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows (Win8+) x64 executable (no auto-update)
[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)

#### Misc

File|Description
:---|:---
[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums

The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
Example usage:
```
curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
```

#### Licensing

While yt-dlp is licensed under the [Unlicense](LICENSE), many of the release files contain code from other projects with different licenses.

Most notably, the PyInstaller-bundled executables include GPLv3+ licensed code, and as such the combined work is licensed under [GPLv3+](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html).

The zipimport Unix executable (`yt-dlp`) contains [ISC](https://github.com/meriyah/meriyah/blob/main/LICENSE.md) licensed code from [`meriyah`](https://github.com/meriyah/meriyah) and [MIT](https://github.com/davidbonnet/astring/blob/main/LICENSE) licensed code from [`astring`](https://github.com/davidbonnet/astring).

See [THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt](THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt) for more details.

The git repository, the source tarball (`yt-dlp.tar.gz`), the PyPI source distribution and the PyPI built distribution (wheel) only contain code licensed under the [Unlicense](LICENSE).
**Note**: The manpages, shell completion (autocomplete) files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/