Generate download URLs

Download URLs allows Partners to programmatically retrieve video files directly from Dailymotion's CDN using the API.

This guide explains how to generate downloadable video file URLs for your content hosted on Dailymotion.

Prerequisites

Private API key with Generate stream URLs permission

In Dailymotion Studio > Organization settings > API keys > Create API key > Private API key > Toggle on "Generate stream URLs".

1. Authenticate

To generate stream URLs via the API v2, you need an access token with the video.read scope. Refer to the authentication guide.

curl --request POST \
     --url https://oauth2.dailymotion.com/v2/token \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
     --data grant_type=client_credentials \
     --data scope=video.read \
     --data client_id=<CLIENT_ID> \
     --data client_secret=<CLIENT_SECRET>

2. Check available formats (optional but recommended)

Before requesting a download, it is strongly recommended to check which formats are available for the video. This allows you to pick the right format_id values and avoid unnecessary errors caused by requesting a non-existent format.

Request the available_formats field on the video resource:

// Replace the VIDEO_ID with your own

curl -X GET "https://api.dailymotion.com/v2/videos/<VIDEO_ID>?fields=available_formats" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>"

This returns a list of available encoded formats with the following information:

Use the format_id values from this response as inputs to the download endpoint in the next step.

3. Request download URL

Call the download endpoint with the video ID. There are three common scenarios depending on your use case.

Scenario A: Download all available formats

If you omit both video_format_id and audio_format_ids, the server returns download URLs for every available video and audio rendition. This is useful for bulk export or when you want to present the full format list to an end user.

curl -X POST "https://api.dailymotion.com/v2/videos/<VIDEO_ID>/downloads" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

Scenario B: Download a specific video quality

Provide a video_format_id to request a download URL for a specific video track only. The format_id must come from the available_formats response from step 2.

curl -X POST "https://api.dailymotion.com/v2/videos/<VIDEO_ID>/downloads" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"video_format_id": "vf_720p_h264"}'

Scenario C: Download a specific video + audio combination

Provide both video_format_id and audio_format_ids to target a precise video/audio pairing. When a muxed version of that combination is available on the server, it will be returned as a single "muxed" entry (one file containing both video and audio). Otherwise, separate video and audio download URLs are returned.

This is particularly useful for multilingual content, where you may want to download a video track paired with a specific dubbed or original audio track.

curl -X POST "https://api.dailymotion.com/v2/videos/<VIDEO_ID>/downloads" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "video_format_id": "vf_720p_h264",
    "audio_format_ids": ["af_aac_stereo_fr"]
  }'

You can also request multiple audio tracks at once (ie. to get both an original and a dubbed version):

curl -X POST "https://api.dailymotion.com/v2/videos/x8abc123/downloads" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_access_token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "video_format_id": "vf_720p_h264",
    "audio_format_ids": ["af_aac_stereo_en", "af_aac_stereo_fr"]
  }'

Response

The response is a list of data around the downloadable file. Each entry contains:

Example response (muxed video + audio):

[
  {
    "type": "muxed",
    "label": "720p",
    "quality": "HD",
    "download_url": "https://cdn.example.com/video/x8abc123/file_720p.mp4?token=abc"
  }
]

Example response (all formats, no filter applied):

[
  {
    "type": "video",
    "label": "1080p",
    "quality": "HD",
    "download_url": "https://cdn.example.com/video/x8abc123/file_1080p.mp4?token=abc"
  },
  {
    "type": "video",
    "label": "720p",
    "quality": "HD",
    "download_url": "https://cdn.example.com/video/x8abc123/file_720p.mp4?token=abc"
  },
  {
    "type": "audio",
    "label": "AAC stereo",
    "quality": "HD",
    "download_url": "https://cdn.example.com/video/x8abc123/audio_aac.m4a?token=abc"
  }
]

Error Handling

If you provide a format_id that does not exist or is not available for the requested video, the API returns a 422 Unprocessable Entity error. Always validate format_id values against the available_formats response as in step 2 before requesting a download URL.

{
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_VIDEO_FORMAT_ID",
    "message": "The requested format_id 'vf_720p_h264' does not exist or is unavailable for this video.",
    "correlation_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"
  }
}