[facebook] "Cannot parse data" with cookies (impersonation needed)

[sew3521]

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 the policy against AI/LLM contributions and understand I may be blocked from the repository if it is violated
• I've read about sharing account credentials and I'm willing to share it if required

Region

USA

Provide a description that is worded well enough to be understood

I am currently unable to download some videos from Facebook. It seems like older videos and Reels work fine.

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: ['-vU', 'https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/2306498449816137/?idorvanity=144287478966603', '--cookies-from-browser', 'firefox']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version stable@2025.11.12 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [335653be8] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.10.11 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.26100-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1t  7 Feb 2023)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 2025-10-21-git-535d4047d3-full_build-www.gyan.dev (setts)
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.2.0, certifi-2025.10.05, curl_cffi-0.13.0, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.5, sqlite3-3.40.1, urllib3-2.5.0, websockets-15.0.1, yt_dlp_ejs-0.3.1
[debug] JS runtimes: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
Extracting cookies from firefox
[debug] Extracting cookies from: "C:\Users\stephen.wesche\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\1389z6e5.default-release\cookies.sqlite"
[debug] Firefox cookies database version: 16
Extracted 2614 cookies from firefox
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets, curl_cffi
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1844 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest
Latest version: stable@2025.11.12 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp
yt-dlp is up to date (stable@2025.11.12 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp)
[facebook] Extracting URL: https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/2306498449816137/?idorvanity=144287478966603
[facebook] 2306498449816137: Downloading webpage
[facebook] 2306498449816137: Downloading webpage
ERROR: [facebook] 2306498449816137: Cannot parse data; please report this issue on  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using  yt-dlp -U
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 762, in extract
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\facebook.py", line 946, in _real_extract
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\facebook.py", line 891, in _extract_from_url

[sew3521]

This is the page that is being downloaded. I was not sure if that would help with the troubleshooting or not.
Facebook.htm

EDIT- This is the webpage that is served when you go to https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/2306498449816137/?idorvanity=144287478966603

[sew3521]

Sorry for so many posts but I am on my lunch so I was trying to troubleshoot some more. I noticed that depending on how I go to the video I can also see it using the URL https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/pcb.25362102660091737/2306498449816137

When I try doing that I get the same error message. I have attached the a download of the webpage below.

Facebook2.htm

[bashonly]

are you acquiring the webpages you're sharing by using the --write-pages option? and if you're not, then how do you know that's what yt-dlp is actually receiving?

[ArnieGA]

@sew3521 Have you tried --impersonate "Chrome-99"? That worked for me.

[sew3521]

are you acquiring the webpages you're sharing by using the --write-pages option? and if you're not, then how do you know that's what yt-dlp is actually receiving?

I did not. Sorry, I was not aware of that option. I have put the dump files below, I appended txt to them so I was able to upload them here.

2306498449816137_0ce6e495ab6daac0972205d6970e39d7_https_-_www.facebook.com_video_tahoe_async_2306498449816137_chain=true_isvideo=true_payloadtype=primary.dump.txt
2306498449816137_https_-_www.facebook.com_1620978459_videos_2306498449816137_idorvanity=144287478966603.dump.txt

@sew3521 Have you tried --impersonate "Chrome-99"? That worked for me.

That worked for me! Thanks :)

Should I keep this bug open since I needed to use @ArnieGA 's workaround to get this to work?

Thank you both for the help with this.

[ArnieGA]

Should I keep this bug open since I needed to use @ArnieGA 's workaround to get this to work?

Actually I don't take credit for that workaround, since I found it on another thread here (I apologize for forgetting which one in specific).

Sorry, I was not aware of that option...

Me neither, no worries. I suggest you do as I did: yt-dlp.exe --help > yt-dlp-help.txt and keep that for future reference, as well as yt-dlp.exe --list-impersonate-targets > yt-dlp-impersonate-targets.txt.

Cheers!

[bashonly]

could one of you share verbose output from a successful run with --impersonate chrome-99?

[sew3521]

could one of you share verbose output from a successful run with --impersonate chrome-99?

Here you go!

PS C:\Users\stephen.wesche\Downloads> .\yt-dlp.exe -vU https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/pcb.25362102660091737/2306498449816137 --cookies-from-browser firefox --impersonate "Chrome-99"
[debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', 'https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/pcb.25362102660091737/2306498449816137', '--cookies-from-browser', 'firefox', '--impersonate', 'Chrome-99']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version stable@2025.11.12 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [335653be8] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.10.11 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.26100-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1t  7 Feb 2023)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 2025-10-21-git-535d4047d3-full_build-www.gyan.dev (setts)
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.2.0, certifi-2025.10.05, curl_cffi-0.13.0, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.5, sqlite3-3.40.1, urllib3-2.5.0, websockets-15.0.1, yt_dlp_ejs-0.3.1
[debug] JS runtimes: deno-2.5.6
[debug] Proxy map: {}
Extracting cookies from firefox
[debug] Extracting cookies from: "C:\Users\stephen.wesche\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\1389z6e5.default-release\cookies.sqlite"
[debug] Firefox cookies database version: 16
Extracted 2675 cookies from firefox
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets, curl_cffi
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1844 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest
Latest version: stable@2025.11.12 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp
yt-dlp is up to date (stable@2025.11.12 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp)
[facebook] Extracting URL: https://www.facebook.com/1620978459/videos/pcb.25362102660091737/2306498449816137
[facebook] 2306498449816137: Downloading webpage
[facebook] 2306498449816137: Downloading webpage
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, lang, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), vcodec, channels, acodec, size, br, asr, proto, vext, aext, hasaud, source, id
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo*+bestaudio/best
[info] 2306498449816137: Downloading 1 format(s): 1420394003424928v+822724204085671a
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://video-ord5-3.xx.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m366/AQPibIrYmvDV72ORCwm10BQYz1cND8oT-RuwdCcPdNHBGwWUYI0vhPWrnzfWzjfX6xklL9GZk4PSraSJdKJYCh1jCA8mc-Ak7mpRUYMbVMioPg.mp4?_nc_cat=106&_nc_sid=9ca052&_nc_ht=video-ord5-3.xx.fbcdn.net&_nc_ohc=j_ebbj_cd60Q7kNvwHxcMMK&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6ImRhc2hfdnA5LWJhc2ljLWdlbjJfMTA4MHAiLCJ2aWRlb19pZCI6MjMwNjQ5ODQ0OTgxNjEzNywib2lsX3VybGdlbl9hcHBfaWQiOjAsImNsaWVudF9uYW1lIjoidW5rbm93biIsInhwdl9hc3NldF9pZCI6MTE0NDEzNTE2MTAzNDQzNCwiYXNzZXRfYWdlX2RheXMiOjAsInZpX3VzZWNhc2VfaWQiOjEwMTIxLCJkdXJhdGlvbl9zIjozMiwiYml0cmF0ZSI6MjA2MDY2NiwidXJsZ2VuX3NvdXJjZSI6Ind3dyJ9&ccb=17-1&_nc_gid=W6vrWsR4fsAEQsoM7fkspw&_nc_zt=28&oh=00_AfjaQMfVGrbUP0vG7Zb2xC2MNgYzTngHMcspioCsZ1J5-w&oe=692BB0E6"
[debug] File locking is not supported. Proceeding without locking
[download] Destination: Facebook [2306498449816137].f1420394003424928v.mp4
[download] 100% of    8.07MiB in 00:00:00 at 12.19MiB/s
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://video-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m412/AQOd9t0vZSPyOXcXmLElYGYREVGfhAaFRCTRXFedBSrzWq-OuOEyl0awRvmcEFzml2Soy6BL7W_jVKoQ--1ELUJCv5aAipG95U1ffXY.mp4?_nc_cat=111&_nc_sid=9ca052&_nc_ht=video-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net&_nc_ohc=MAOpsj0yTuUQ7kNvwGupHdE&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6ImRhc2hfbG5faGVhYWNfdmJyM19hdWRpbyIsInZpZGVvX2lkIjoyMzA2NDk4NDQ5ODE2MTM3LCJvaWxfdXJsZ2VuX2FwcF9pZCI6MCwiY2xpZW50X25hbWUiOiJ1bmtub3duIiwieHB2X2Fzc2V0X2lkIjoxMTQ0MTM1MTYxMDM0NDM0LCJhc3NldF9hZ2VfZGF5cyI6MCwidmlfdXNlY2FzZV9pZCI6MTAxMjEsImR1cmF0aW9uX3MiOjMyLCJiaXRyYXRlIjo4MTA4OSwidXJsZ2VuX3NvdXJjZSI6Ind3dyJ9&ccb=17-1&_nc_gid=W6vrWsR4fsAEQsoM7fkspw&_nc_zt=28&oh=00_Afi_KaOORA1xL-yiTEyuMz7VtFptqBjqJ1cpG6FDKCKqRg&oe=692BBEBC"
[download] Destination: Facebook [2306498449816137].f822724204085671a.m4a
[download] 100% of  325.45KiB in 00:00:00 at 1.60MiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "Facebook [2306498449816137].mp4"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -loglevel repeat+info -i "file:Facebook [2306498449816137].f1420394003424928v.mp4" -i "file:Facebook [2306498449816137].f822724204085671a.m4a" -c copy -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 -movflags +faststart "file:Facebook [2306498449816137].temp.mp4"
Deleting original file Facebook [2306498449816137].f822724204085671a.m4a (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Facebook [2306498449816137].f1420394003424928v.mp4 (pass -k to keep)

[aallfik11]

@sew3521 Have you tried --impersonate "Chrome-99"? That worked for me.

Doesn't work for me unfortunately, using --cookies-from-browser did seem to do the trick, without --impersonate option

[ArnieGA]

Sorry to hear that. Have you tried "impersonating" other agents?

…

On Sat, Nov 29, 2025, 11:28 AM Adam Nieckarz ***@***.***> wrote: *aallfik11* left a comment (yt-dlp/yt-dlp#15161) <#15161 (comment)> @sew3521 <https://github.com/sew3521> Have you tried --impersonate "Chrome-99"? That worked for me. Doesn't work for me unfortunately, not really sure what to do atm — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#15161 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADEPLHL3MVD53JUZHT7RUK337G3TBAVCNFSM6AAAAACNB4VTUOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTKOJRG42TCOBXHA> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[bashonly]

Doesn't work for me unfortunately, using --cookies-from-browser did seem to do the trick, without --impersonate option

--cookies-from-browser and --impersonate should still work, though, right?

The issue experienced in the OP is when using cookies fails without impersonation (likely due to Facebook's Tahoe API doing some gatekeeping via HTTP header fingerprinting).

[webzrout]

Hello, it didn't download for me either, i was permanently using different cookies for Youtube, so i saved them to the disk for Facebook again. It's a well-known add-on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/ , on logged in Facebook i saved the so-called "current site" to the file "fb-cookies.txt"

Then the command worked:

yt-dlp --paths=C:\Tools\yt-dlp\yt-download\video\Facebook --progress --cookies=fb-cookies.txt -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/mp4" %url%