Get media URL

Use this action to extract a playable stream URL from a supported media page and use the URL in later automation or script steps.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To extract a media URL from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Media Extractor: Get media URL.
6. Enter the URL to extract.
7. In the Response variable field, enter a name to store the result in, such as extracted_media.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as media_extractor.extract_media_url. Store the result in a response variable so you can use it in later steps:

action: media_extractor.extract_media_url
data:
  url: "https://example.com/video"
  format_query: best
response_variable: extracted_media

This extracts a media URL and stores the response in extracted_media.

Options in YAML

This action does not support targets.

Response data

The action returns the extracted media URL in the action response.

Good to know

• Common format queries include bestvideo, best, bestaudio[ext=m4a], and worst.
• For more details, see the youtube-dl format selection documentation.

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.