What is the basic gallery-dl download command?

gallery-dl "URL" downloads all images from the URL. Add --cookies-from-browser chrome for sites requiring login.

How do I set the output folder in gallery-dl?

Use the -d flag: gallery-dl -d "C:\Images" "URL". Or set base-directory in your config.json for a permanent default.

How do I skip already downloaded files in gallery-dl?

Use --download-archive archive.txt. gallery-dl writes each downloaded URL to the file and skips it on future runs.

How do I filter downloads by file type in gallery-dl?

Use --image-filter: gallery-dl --image-filter "extension in ('jpg','png')" "URL"

Windows PowerShell / CMD · Copy & paste · Updated 2026

gallery-dl Commands Cheatsheet for Windows

All essential gallery-dl commands in one place. Paste directly into PowerShell or CMD. Replace the URL with your target link.

Essentials

Basic gallery-dl commands

Download all images from a URL

gallery-dl "URL"

Download with browser cookies (for login-required sites)

gallery-dl --cookies-from-browser chrome "URL"

Check installed version

gallery-dl --version

Update to the latest release

gallery-dl -U

List all images that would be downloaded (no download)

gallery-dl --simulate "URL"

Show verbose output for debugging

gallery-dl -v "URL"

Output & filenames

Set download folder and filename templates

Save to a specific folder

gallery-dl -d "C:\Images" "URL"

Custom filename — category + author + sequential number

gallery-dl --filename "{category}_{author}_{num:>04}.{extension}" "URL"

Create subfolders by site and author

gallery-dl -d "C:\Images" --directory "{category}/{author}" "URL"

Use a custom config file

gallery-dl --config "C:\Tools\gallery-dl\myconfig.json" "URL"

Authentication

Cookie and login commands

Use cookies from Chrome

gallery-dl --cookies-from-browser chrome "URL"

Use cookies from Firefox

gallery-dl --cookies-from-browser firefox "URL"

Use a cookies.txt file

gallery-dl --cookies "C:\Tools\gallery-dl\cookies.txt" "URL"

Username and password login (where supported)

gallery-dl -u "username" -p "password" "URL"

Filters & selection

Filter downloads by type, date, or count

Download only images (skip videos)

gallery-dl --image-filter "extension in ('jpg','jpeg','png','webp','gif')" "URL"

Download only first 50 images

gallery-dl --chapter-filter "index < 50" "URL"

Skip already downloaded — use an archive file

gallery-dl --download-archive "C:\Tools\gallery-dl\archive.txt" "URL"

Download only images larger than 500KB

gallery-dl --image-filter "filesize > 500000" "URL"

Performance & rate limiting

Speed, retries and rate limiting

Limit download speed (avoid throttling)

gallery-dl --rate 2M "URL"

Set sleep between requests (seconds) — avoids rate limits

gallery-dl --sleep-request 2 "URL"

Set number of retries on failure

gallery-dl --retries 5 "URL"

Batch download from a text file (one URL per line)

gallery-dl --input-file "C:\Tools\gallery-dl\links.txt"

Filename variables

Common template variables for --filename and --directory

{filename}
Original filename

{extension}
File extension

{category}
Site name (instagram, pixiv…)

{author}
Author / uploader name

{num}
Sequential number

{num:>04}
Zero-padded number (0001…)

{date}
Post/upload date

{date:%Y-%m-%d}
Formatted date (2026-06-09)

{id}
Post / image ID