yolov8/docs/modes/track.md

metadata

comments: true
description: >-
  Explore YOLOv8n-based object tracking with Ultralytics' BoT-SORT and
  ByteTrack. Learn configuration, usage, and customization tips.
keywords: object tracking, YOLO, trackers, BoT-SORT, ByteTrack

Object tracking is a task that involves identifying the location and class of objects, then assigning a unique ID to that detection in video streams.

The output of tracker is the same as detection with an added object ID.

Available Trackers

The following tracking algorithms have been implemented and can be enabled by passing tracker=tracker_type.yaml

• BoT-SORT - botsort.yaml
• ByteTrack - bytetrack.yaml

The default tracker is BoT-SORT.

Tracking

Use a trained YOLOv8n/YOLOv8n-seg model to run tracker on video streams.

!!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    # Load a model
    model = YOLO('yolov8n.pt')  # load an official detection model
    model = YOLO('yolov8n-seg.pt')  # load an official segmentation model
    model = YOLO('path/to/best.pt')  # load a custom model
    
    # Track with the model
    results = model.track(source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc", show=True) 
    results = model.track(source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc", show=True, tracker="bytetrack.yaml") 
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo track model=yolov8n.pt source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc"  # official detection model
    yolo track model=yolov8n-seg.pt source=...   # official segmentation model
    yolo track model=path/to/best.pt source=...  # custom model
    yolo track model=path/to/best.pt  tracker="bytetrack.yaml" # bytetrack tracker

    ```

As in the above usage, we support both the detection and segmentation models for tracking and the only thing you need to do is loading the corresponding (detection or segmentation) model.

Configuration

Tracking

Tracking shares the configuration with predict, i.e conf, iou, show. More configurations please refer to predict page. !!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    model = YOLO('yolov8n.pt')
    results = model.track(source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc", conf=0.3, iou=0.5, show=True) 
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo track model=yolov8n.pt source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc" conf=0.3, iou=0.5 show

    ```

Tracker

We also support using a modified tracker config file, just copy a config file i.e custom_tracker.yaml from ultralytics/tracker/cfg and modify any configurations(expect the tracker_type) you need to. !!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    model = YOLO('yolov8n.pt')
    results = model.track(source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc", tracker='custom_tracker.yaml') 
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo track model=yolov8n.pt source="https://youtu.be/Zgi9g1ksQHc" tracker='custom_tracker.yaml'
    ```

Please refer to ultralytics/tracker/cfg page