--prefer-free-formats (Closes #231)

diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index 3fed554..306ecca 100755 (executable)
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -1121,6 +1121,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(InfoExtractor):
        _NETRC_MACHINE = 'youtube'
        # Listed in order of quality
        _available_formats = ['38', '37', '22', '45', '35', '44', '34', '18', '43', '6', '5', '17', '13']
+       _available_formats_prefer_free = ['38', '37', '45', '22', '44', '35', '43', '34', '18', '6', '5', '17', '13']
        _video_extensions = {
                '13': '3gp',
                '17': 'mp4',
@@ -1370,10 +1371,11 @@ class YoutubeIE(InfoExtractor):
                        url_map = dict((ud['itag'][0], ud['url'][0]) for ud in url_data)
 
                        format_limit = self._downloader.params.get('format_limit', None)
-                       if format_limit is not None and format_limit in self._available_formats:
-                               format_list = self._available_formats[self._available_formats.index(format_limit):]
+                       available_formats = self._available_formats_prefer_free if self._downloader.params.get('prefer_free_formats', False) else self._available_formats
+                       if format_limit is not None and format_limit in available_formats:
+                               format_list = available_formats[available_formats.index(format_limit):]
                        else:
-                               format_list = self._available_formats
+                               format_list = available_formats
                        existing_formats = [x for x in format_list if x in url_map]
                        if len(existing_formats) == 0:
                                self._downloader.trouble(u'ERROR: no known formats available for video')
@@ -4175,6 +4177,8 @@ def parseOpts():
                        action='store', dest='format', metavar='FORMAT', help='video format code')
        video_format.add_option('--all-formats',
                        action='store_const', dest='format', help='download all available video formats', const='all')
+       video_format.add_option('--prefer-free-formats',
+                       action='store_true', dest='prefer_free_formats', default=False, help='prefer free video formats unless a specific one is requested')
        video_format.add_option('--max-quality',
                        action='store', dest='format_limit', metavar='FORMAT', help='highest quality format to download')
        video_format.add_option('-F', '--list-formats',
@@ -4439,6 +4443,7 @@ def _real_main():
                'matchtitle': opts.matchtitle,
                'rejecttitle': opts.rejecttitle,
                'max_downloads': opts.max_downloads,
+               'prefer_free_formats': opts.prefer_free_formats,
                })
        for extractor in extractors:
                fd.add_info_extractor(extractor)