# Preferences

Downie contains a whole array of options and settings that allow you to customize it to your needs. The Preferences window can be accessed from the menu bar by following `Downie > Preferences…`. It contains various sections that are described below in greater detail.

## General

General preferences allow you to set your preferences about the general behavior of Downie:

- queue behavior (number of concurrent downloads, etc.)
- post-download actions - general actions performed when the download is completed, such as a notification and sound
- what quality (video resolution) would you like Downie to download if there are multiple qualities available

There are also two MP4-related options. One is to `prefer MP4` downloads and one to `force MP4` downloads. Some sites, including YouTube, may not offer the top download that matches you quality settings in MP4 format, but for example in WebM. While this can be remedied by setting the postprocessing to MP4, the conversion may take a significant amount of time and CPU resources.

The first option (prefer MP4) will select MP4 in case there is a rendition with the same resolution available in MP4, even if it has lower bitrate or framerate. Example: you have the quality setting set to best and the video is available in 1080p in WebM (60fps) and MP4 (30fps). With this setting enabled, Downie will select the MP4, even if a 60fps WebM is available.

The second option (force MP4) will select any MP4 rendition over other formats. Please note that this will ignore higher resolutions in other formats. Example: you have the quality setting set to best and the video is available as 4k in WebM and only as 720p in MP4. With this setting enabled, Downie will select the MP4 at 720p, even if a 1080p WebM is available. If you require the highest possible resolution, do not enable this option.

## Appearance

There are several appearance-related options, such as whether to show the menu bar icon, Dock icon, sorting direction of the queue, etc.

## Destination

You can set the folder where to download the files, whether to sort them by website and playlist (will create a folder for each website/playlist), as well as file name format. Additionally, there are two options to download more information about the downloaded file:

- thumbnail image - it will download a JPEG file with the thumbnail/cover image (if available)
- JSON metadata file - this will create a JSON metadata file along with the download that contains all the metadata that Downie gathered about the downloaded file. This includes e.g. description, the link it got downloaded from, show name, authors, etc. Additionally, for supported sites (currently e.g. YouTube and Vimeo) it will contain a list of chapters. This can be used along with Permute to split the file into separate files for each chapter - just use the JSON file with Permute’s File Cutter workshop module.

## History

History settings allow you to set up automatic cleanup of your download history or to automatically clear deleted files. For more information, please see the History help.

## Browser Extensions

See Browser Extensions help.

## Postprocessing

Once the download is done, you may want Downie to do several things:

- add the resulting file to iTunes/Music/TV app
- perform additional format changes on the downloaded file

Downie includes various options when it comes to changing the format of downloaded files. You can select from 5 options when it comes to postprocessing. Please see Postprocessing help for more information on these options.

Some files can be downloaded as multi-part - they will consist of several e.g. 6-minute parts. This is already done by the server they are downloaded from. Stitching of these is not an easy task and unfortunately requires Permute to perform the stitching.

## Subtitles & Audio

For sites that support this, Downie can download subtitle files along with the main download. If you do not wish for the subtitles to be downloaded automatically, uncheck this option. Downie will by default convert all subtitle formats to the most common `.srt` format - this is not always desired - in such cases, enable the option to keep original format of the subtitles.

Additionally, you can define subtitles that should be downloaded automatically here as well as the names of audio tracks that should be selected automatically.

## Proxy Server

⚠️ WARNING: This is an advanced setting. Setting it up incorrectly can lead to Downie not being able to download anything.

Proxy server is an online service that allows you to browse the Internet using a different IP address. You can set up a proxy server here in order to download videos that are otherwise inaccessible to you in your current geolocation. Note that Downie currently supports only HTTPS and SOCKS 4 and 5 proxy servers and that this setting doesn’t currently affect the User Guided Extraction nor the Login Browser.

> Note: Changing the proxy settings doesn’t affect existing downloads or items that are already in the queue. Each download copies the proxy settings at the very moment that it’s created.

## Supported Sites

You can view sites with explicit support here. Note that this list doesn’t by default include sites considered as adult - to include those sites as well, check the All Sites checkbox in bottom-left corner.

> Important note: This only lists sites with explicit support. There are thousands and thousands more that will work with Downie either on its own or via User-Guided Extraction.

## Search Engines

In the main window, there is a Search icon from which you can perform video search directly from Downie. In this preference pane, you can enable and disable various Search Engines.

## Parental Controls & Privacy

Editing parental controls requires to be unlocked by an administrator using the Lock button. After that you can disable:

- Downloads from adult sites. Note that this blocking is only based on the information available about the particular site. See Supported Sites below for more information.
- Disable top downloads button. This will remove the button in the main window with top downloads by other users. Disabling this button will also prevent Downie from sending anonymous usage data to us (which is how this button works). The data sent is completely anonymous, doesn’t contain any personal information.

Additionally, you can disable sending anonymous statistics. Anonymous statistics are sent to our servers about which sites are being used. This information does not contain anything that could identify you and is completely anonymous. This statistic is used to determine which site integrations are no longer being used and to identify dead sites that are supported by Downie, but no longer exist.

## Advanced

Advanced preferences are fairly advanced - we do not recommend modifying those unless you fully understand what these options do.

## Updates

Set options on how should Downie handle updates. We recommend that you check for updates automatically and even download them automatically - each update brings many improvements and given the nature of Downie integrating with 3rd party online services, things are bound to get broken over the course of time.