Can't download Kick Sub-Only VODs

[helpimnotdrowning]

Checklist

• I'm reporting that yt-dlp is broken on a supported site
• I've verified that I have updated yt-dlp to nightly or master (update instructions)
• I've checked that all provided URLs are playable in a browser with the same IP and same login details
• I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
• I've searched known issues, the FAQ, and the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones. DO NOT post duplicates
• I've read about sharing account credentials and I'm willing to share it if required

Region

United States

Provide a description that is worded well enough to be understood

Downloading normal VODs is working fine. VODs marked "Sub-only" (ex https://kick.com/mikeneko/videos/69d65b8d-89e2-4a5f-89b8-d2572d2f18cf) throw a 403.

Using the Stream Detector extension, I can generate a working link (yt-dlp --no-part --restrict-filenames -N 8 --extractor-args generic:is_live=true -vv --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:138.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/138.0" --cookies-from-browser firefox --referer "https://kick.com/" "https://stream.kick.com/ivs/v1/<...>/master.m3u8"), though it of course has no metadata.

Provide verbose output that clearly demonstrates the problem

• Run your yt-dlp command with -vU flag added (yt-dlp -vU <your command line>)
• If using API, add 'verbose': True to YoutubeDL params instead
• Copy the WHOLE output (starting with [debug] Command-line config) and insert it below

Complete Verbose Output

[debug] Command-line config: ['--cookies-from-browser', 'firefox', '--verbose', '--format', 'bestvideo[vcodec^=avc]+bestaudio[acodec^=mp4a]/bestvideo+bestaudio/best', '--force-ipv4', '--sleep-requests', '1', '--sleep-interval', '5', '--max-sleep-interval', '30', '--ignore-errors', '--no-continue', '--no-overwrites', '--add-metadata', '--write-description', '--write-info-json', '--write-annotations', '--write-thumbnail', '--embed-thumbnail', '--all-subs', '--skip-unavailable-fragments', '--embed-subs', '--check-formats', '--concurrent-fragments', '5', '--sponsorblock-mark', 'all,-poi_highlight,-filler', '--output', 'E:/ytdl//%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s/%(title)s [%(id)s] f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s', 'https://kick.com/mikeneko/videos/4cc7e69f-0500-46a3-8f53-be1786c5567c', '-vU']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp65001, fs utf-8, pref cp65001, out utf-8, error utf-8 (No VT), screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version nightly@2025.06.09.234059 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds [339614a17] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.10.11 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.26200-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1t  7 Feb 2023)
Extracting cookies from firefox
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 7.0-full_build-www.gyan.dev (setts), ffprobe 7.0-full_build-www.gyan.dev
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.1.0, certifi-2025.04.26, curl_cffi-0.10.0, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.4, sqlite3-3.40.1, urllib3-2.4.0, websockets-15.0.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Extracting cookies from: "C:\Users\helpi\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xnfqorwk.default-release\cookies.sqlite"
Extracted 2092 cookies from firefox
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets, curl_cffi
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1859 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/latest
Latest version: nightly@2025.06.09.234059 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds
yt-dlp is up to date (nightly@2025.06.09.234059 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds)
[kick:vod] Setting up session
[kick:vod] Extracting URL: https://kick.com/mikeneko/videos/4cc7e69f-0500-46a3-8f53-be1786c5567c
[kick:vod] Sleeping 1.0 seconds ...
[debug] [kick:vod] kick.com did not set XSRF-TOKEN cookie
[kick:vod] 4cc7e69f-0500-46a3-8f53-be1786c5567c: Downloading API JSON
ERROR: [kick:vod] 4cc7e69f-0500-46a3-8f53-be1786c5567c: Unable to download JSON metadata: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden (caused by <HTTPError 403: Forbidden>)
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 748, in extract
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\kick.py", line 126, in _real_extract
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\kick.py", line 31, in _call_api
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 1145, in download_content
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 1103, in download_handle
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 968, in _download_webpage_handle
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 917, in _request_webpage

  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 904, in _request_webpage
  File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 4195, in urlopen
  File "yt_dlp\networking\common.py", line 117, in send
  File "yt_dlp\networking\_curlcffi.py", line 194, in send
  File "yt_dlp\networking\_helper.py", line 194, in wrapper
  File "yt_dlp\networking\common.py", line 359, in send
  File "yt_dlp\networking\_curlcffi.py", line 290, in _send
yt_dlp.networking.exceptions.HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

[bashonly]

Downloading normal VODs is working fine

Does it still work fine if you also pass --cookies-from-browser firefox?

[helpimnotdrowning]

Both downloads (normal and sub-only VOD) are downloaded with cookies. I use a small set of wrappers for yt-dlp. The command in this case is

--cookies-from-browser
firefox
--verbose
--format
bestvideo[vcodec^=avc]+bestaudio[acodec^=mp4a]/bestvideo+bestaudio/best
--force-ipv4
--sleep-requests
1
--sleep-interval
5
--max-sleep-interval
30
--ignore-errors
--no-continue
--no-overwrites
--add-metadata
--write-description
--write-info-json
--write-annotations
--write-thumbnail
--embed-thumbnail
--all-subs
--skip-unavailable-fragments
--embed-subs
--check-formats
--concurrent-fragments
5
--sponsorblock-mark
all,-poi_highlight,-filler
--output
E:/ytdl//%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s/%(title)s [%(id)s] f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s
https://kick.com/mikeneko/videos/4cc7e69f-0500-46a3-8f53-be1786c5567c
-vU

[bashonly]

If you're willing to share your account credentials, I could take a look into it.

You can join the yt-dlp discord server and DM me (same username)

Or you can email them to me: bashonly (a t) proton mail [do t] com

[helpimnotdrowning]

Just sent to the email!

[helpimnotdrowning]

I've done a bit of research after compiling curl-impersonate for Windows, and I found something strange. Despite the Kick api returning a 403 for https://kick.com/api/v1/video/cae573f9-6042-4b6a-a1f0-20352e522756 (another sub-only VOD available with the account I sent you) with no cookies (not signed in!), the body does actually contain a (seemingly) correct payload:

{
	"id": 58161750,
	"live_stream_id": 61900509,
	"slug": null,
	"thumb": null,
	"s3": null,
	"trading_platform_id": null,
	"created_at": "2025-06-25T08:14:50.000000Z",
	"updated_at": "2025-06-26T18:13:37.000000Z",
	"uuid": "cae573f9-6042-4b6a-a1f0-20352e522756",
	"views": 1214,
	"deleted_at": null,
	"is_pruned": false,
	"is_private": true,
	"status": "subscriber_only",
	"source": "",
	"livestream": {
		"id": 61900509,
		"slug": "56851475-",
		"channel_id": 50463112,
		"created_at": "2025-06-25 08:14:49",
		"session_title": "やだやだやだやだやだやだやだやだやだやだ；；；；；；；",
		"is_live": false,
		"risk_level_id": null,
		"start_time": "2025-06-25T08:14:48+00:00",
		"source": null,
		"twitch_channel": null,
		"duration": 11248000,
		"language": "Japanese",
		"is_mature": false,
		"viewer_count": 270,
		"tags": [],
		"thumbnail": "https://kick-prod-videos.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/thumbnails/livestream/61900509/thumb0/video_thumbnail/thumb0.jpg?X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS3MDRZGPDOOAYROR%2F20250626%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250626T181930Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=adc09922d81c9f350f06727cf873e7d3033d4521fdd92dd8e19faa401e6f7b18",
		"channel": {
			"id": 50463112,
			"user_id": 51582054,
			"slug": "mikeneko",
			"is_banned": false,
			"playback_url": "https://fa723fc1b171.us-west-2.playback.live-video.net/api/video/v1/us-west-2.196233775518.channel.RoNh0K8cvEKL.m3u8",
			"name_updated_at": null,
			"vod_enabled": true,
			"subscription_enabled": true,
			"is_affiliate": true,
			"followersCount": 11041,
			"user": {
				"profilepic": "https://files.kick.com/images/user/51582054/profile_image/faf59ed1-feb4-4be2-a4d2-785999c58cba",
				"bio": "2.5D Vtuber! I mainly play games and chat 🌟\nI want to make friends with everyone overseas💘Im cute　Vtuber❣",
				"twitter": "95rn16",
				"facebook": "",
				"instagram": "mikeneko.x",
				"youtube": "@mikenekoko",
				"discord": "",
				"tiktok": "mikenekonekoko",
				"username": "Mikeneko"
			},
			"can_host": true,
			"verified": {
				"id": 8069,
				"channel_id": 50463112,
				"created_at": "2025-01-11T04:40:17.000000Z",
				"updated_at": "2025-01-11T04:40:17.000000Z"
			}
		},
		"categories": [
			{
				"id": 15,
				"category_id": 2,
				"name": "Just Chatting",
				"slug": "just-chatting",
				"tags": [
					"IRL",
					"Casual"
				],
				"description": null,
				"deleted_at": null,
				"is_mature": false,
				"is_promoted": false,
				"viewers": 123803,
				"category": {
					"id": 2,
					"name": "IRL",
					"slug": "irl",
					"icon": "🎙️"
				}
			}
		]
	}
}

(note the property "status": "subscriber_only"!)

Maybe the code 403 could be ignored if the body is actually valid?

---

curl command (using my build of curl-impersonate for Windows):

.\.local\bin\curl_firefox133.bat --ca-native https://kick.com/api/v1/video/cae573f9-6042-4b6a-a1f0-20352e522756 -i

Kick response:

HTTP/2 403 
date: Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:38:09 GMT
content-type: text/html
cache-control: no-cache, private
vary: Origin
cf-cache-status: DYNAMIC
set-cookie: __cf_bm=ihLPxV1xEvm...bCE; path=/; expires=Thu, 26-Jun-25 19:08:09 GMT; domain=.kick.com; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None
set-cookie: _cfuvid=e4q3JQoIZS1...000; path=/; domain=.kick.com; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None
server: cloudflare
cf-ray: 955ed1ee5c83ed8c-ATL
content-encoding: br
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400

{"id":58161750,"live_stream_id":61900509,"slug":null,"thumb":null,"s3":null,"trading_platform_id":null,"created_at":"2025-06-25T08:14:50.000000Z","updated_at":"2025-06-26T18:13:37.000000Z","uuid":"cae573f9-6042-4b6a-a1f0-20352e522756","views":1214,"deleted_at":null,"is_pruned":false,"is_private":true,"status":"subscriber_only","source":"","livestream":{"id":61900509,"slug":"56851475-","channel_id":50463112,"created_at":"2025-06-25 08:14:49","session_title":"\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\u3084\u3060\uff1b\uff1b\uff1b\uff1b\uff1b\uff1b\uff1b","is_live":false,"risk_level_id":null,"start_time":"2025-06-25T08:14:48+00:00","source":null,"twitch_channel":null,"duration":11248000,"language":"Japanese","is_mature":false,"viewer_count":270,"tags":[],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/kick-prod-videos.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/thumbnails\/livestream\/61900509\/thumb0\/video_thumbnail\/thumb0.jpg?X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS3MDRZGPDOOAYROR%2F20250626%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250626T183809Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=8c2faccecb64bf847ce2291409f69f3b7ccee242f9089853e40774f01ee41fa8","channel":{"id":50463112,"user_id":51582054,"slug":"mikeneko","is_banned":false,"playback_url":"https:\/\/fa723fc1b171.us-west-2.playback.live-video.net\/api\/video\/v1\/us-west-2.196233775518.channel.RoNh0K8cvEKL.m3u8","name_updated_at":null,"vod_enabled":true,"subscription_enabled":true,"is_affiliate":true,"followersCount":11041,"user":{"profilepic":"https:\/\/files.kick.com\/images\/user\/51582054\/profile_image\/faf59ed1-feb4-4be2-a4d2-785999c58cba","bio":"2.5D Vtuber! I mainly play games and chat \ud83c\udf1f\nI want to make friends with everyone overseas\ud83d\udc98Im cute\u3000Vtuber\u2763","twitter":"95rn16","facebook":"","instagram":"mikeneko.x","youtube":"@mikenekoko","discord":"","tiktok":"mikenekonekoko","username":"Mikeneko"},"can_host":true,"verified":{"id":8069,"channel_id":50463112,"created_at":"2025-01-11T04:40:17.000000Z","updated_at":"2025-01-11T04:40:17.000000Z"}},"categories":[{"id":15,"category_id":2,"name":"Just Chatting","slug":"just-chatting","tags":["IRL","Casual"],"description":null,"deleted_at":null,"is_mature":false,"is_promoted":false,"viewers":170462,"category":{"id":2,"name":"IRL","slug":"irl","icon":"\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f"}}]}}

---

edit: not valid, this is missing the stream property!

[bashonly]

Sorry, I forgot about this. Thanks for the email. I'll try to look into it soon