[BUG] "No valid URL to decipher"

[ggtylerr]

EDIT: See statement: iv-org/invidious#4251 (comment)

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Description
When accessing a video on Invidious, it can occasionally respond with an error code 500. While this can be due to a number of reasons (i.e. companion not being able to connect to a proxy,) one of the new errors is due to "no valid URL" being able to be deciphered. According to logs, the stacktrace (roughly) leads to this line here: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious-companion/blob/master/src/lib/helpers/youtubePlayerHandling.ts#L63 (not sure why the stacktrace doesn't lead to the correct line, I assume because of compilation?)

My initial guess is that it's another rollout update with a newer format URL, but currently just a hunch.

Reproduction
Unknown, can happen randomly if doing IP rotation via VPN + regular potoken rotation.

Logs
In docker:

companion-1  | Error: No valid URL to decipher
companion-1  |     at Player.decipher (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LuanRT/YouTube.js/refs/tags/v13.1.0-deno/deno/src/core/Player.ts:56:21)
companion-1  |     at Format.decipher (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LuanRT/YouTube.js/refs/tags/v13.1.0-deno/deno/src/parser/classes/misc/Format.ts:142:19)
companion-1  |     at youtubePlayerParsing (file:///tmp/deno-compile-invidious_companion/app/src/lib/helpers/youtubePlayerHandling.ts:47:80)
companion-1  |     at eventLoopTick (ext:core/01_core.js:175:7)
companion-1  |     at async file:///tmp/deno-compile-invidious_companion/app/src/routes/youtube_api_routes/player.ts:9:19
companion-1  |     at async dispatch (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.2/src/compose.ts:37:17)
companion-1  |     at async bearerAuth (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.2/src/middleware/bearer-auth/index.ts:103:5)
companion-1  |     at async dispatch (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.2/src/compose.ts:37:17)
companion-1  |     at async logger (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.2/src/middleware/logger/index.ts:69:5)
companion-1  |     at async dispatch (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.2/src/compose.ts:37:17)

[unixfox]

Mmmh I don't know exactly. I know that people have been privately telling us that youtube is slowing forcing SABR so that maybe the reason you got this.

Probably if your IP is in SABR experiment, youtube doesn't return any URL to companion.

[unixfox]

Getting this too now

Failed to get valid PO token, will retry {
  err: Error: No valid URL to decipher
    at Player.decipher (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LuanRT/YouTube.js/refs/tags/v13.1.0-deno/deno/src/core/Player.ts:82:13)
    at Format.decipher (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LuanRT/YouTube.js/refs/tags/v13.1.0-deno/deno/src/parser/classes/misc/Format.ts:247:19)
    at youtubePlayerParsing (file:///home/emilien/Documents/invidious-companion/src/lib/helpers/youtubePlayerHandling.ts:107:30)
    at eventLoopTick (ext:core/01_core.js:177:7)
    at async poTokenGenerate (file:///home/emilien/Documents/invidious-companion/src/lib/jobs/potoken.ts:160:43)
    at async file:///home/emilien/Documents/invidious-companion/src/main.ts:90:53
    at async ext:deno_cron/01_cron.ts:102:42
}
Exception in cron handler regenerate youtube session Error: No valid URL to decipher
    at Player.decipher (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LuanRT/YouTube.js/refs/tags/v13.1.0-deno/deno/src/core/Player.ts:82:13)
    at Format.decipher (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LuanRT/YouTube.js/refs/tags/v13.1.0-deno/deno/src/parser/classes/misc/Format.ts:247:19)
    at youtubePlayerParsing (file:///home/emilien/Documents/invidious-companion/src/lib/helpers/youtubePlayerHandling.ts:107:30)
    at eventLoopTick (ext:core/01_core.js:177:7)
    at async poTokenGenerate (file:///home/emilien/Documents/invidious-companion/src/lib/jobs/potoken.ts:160:43)
    at async file:///home/emilien/Documents/invidious-companion/src/main.ts:90:53
    at async ext:deno_cron/01_cron.ts:102:42

After setting a refresh rate for potoken of every 1 minute.

[alexmaras]

yeah, I'm seeing it sometimes too., but mostly in the refresh token checks now

[unixfox]

Not 100% sure this is that but we got some feedback that youtube is starting to return reCAPTCHA for some requests.

I'll check if that happens on a known IP that is in A/B testing for reCAPTCHA.

[gptlang]

I'm getting this on every video now...

[unixfox]

Ok it's confirmed, youtube is now returning SABR only URLs. Something that invidious doesn't support yet.

We are investigating how to solve this issue.

[unixfox]

iv-org/invidious#4251 (comment)