Using browser cookies

Some videos only download with a logged-in session: private and members-only videos, age-restricted ones, and YouTube's "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" check. yt-dlp can use your browser's cookies for these.

1. Install a browser extension that exports cookies: Firefox, Chrome.
2. Log in to the site, and export its cookies as cookies.txt.
3. In MeTube, open Advanced Options and click Upload Cookies. The status under the button changes to Cookies active.

The uploaded file is saved as cookies.txt in STATE_DIR and used for every download. Use Replace Cookies to upload a newer file, or the trash icon next to it to remove the cookies.

Cookies expire, and YouTube also rotates the cookies of sessions still open in a browser. If downloads start failing again, export fresh ones; yt-dlp's wiki explains how to export YouTube cookies so they last.

You can also point yt-dlp's cookiefile option in YTDL_OPTIONS at a file mounted into the container. An uploaded file takes precedence over it.