Signature solving failed

[jobsfan]

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

HongKong

Provide a description that is worded well enough to be understood

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE"
using the above command in terminal. and got the following

Extracting cookies from chrome
Extracted 3284 cookies from chrome
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading web safari player API JSON
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Signature solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: n challenge solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading 1 format(s): 301
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 5
[download] Destination: Timeless x Cars ｜ The Weeknd ｜ ''Ever since i was a kid , i been legit＂ #theweeknd #music [18rJogG1thE].mp4
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (5/10)...

....
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 5 ...
ERROR: The downloaded file is empty

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

yt-dlp -vU --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9191 --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE"


[debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', '--proxy', 'socks5://127.0.0.1:9191', '--cookies-from-browser', 'chrome', 'https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, pref UTF-8, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version stable@2025.12.08 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [7a52ff29d] (pip)
[debug] Python 3.10.18 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - Linux-6.14.0-37-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.39 (OpenSSL 3.5.2 5 Aug 2025, glibc 2.39)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 6.1.1 (setts), ffprobe 6.1.1
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, certifi-2025.11.12, requests-2.32.5, secretstorage-3.4.0, sqlite3-3.50.4, urllib3-2.6.2
[debug] JS runtimes: none
[debug] Proxy map: {'all': 'socks5://127.0.0.1:9191'}
Extracting cookies from chrome
[debug] Extracting cookies from: "/home/myComputer/.config/google-chrome/Default/Cookies"
[Cookies] Loading cookie      0/  3548[debug] detected desktop environment: GNOME
[debug] Chosen keyring: GNOMEKEYRING
Extracted 3285 cookies from chrome
[debug] cookie version breakdown: {'v10': 0, 'v11': 3548, 'other': 0, 'unencrypted': 0}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1854 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest
Latest version: stable@2025.12.08 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp
yt-dlp is up to date (stable@2025.12.08 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp)
[debug] [youtube] Found YouTube account cookies
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[debug] [youtube] [jsc] JS Challenge Providers: bun (unavailable), deno (unavailable), node (unavailable), quickjs (unavailable)
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player b75a8e80
        original url = /s/player/b75a8e80/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading web safari player API JSON
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Signature solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: n challenge solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading m3u8 information
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo*+bestaudio/best
[info] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading 1 format(s): 301
[debug] Invoking hlsnative downloader on "<manifest url omitted>/index.m3u8"
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 5
[download] Destination: Timeless x Cars ｜ The Weeknd ｜ ''Ever since i was a kid , i been legit＂ #theweeknd #music [18rJogG1thE].mp4
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 1 ...



Signature and n-challenge solving fails when downloading YouTube Shorts.

Environment has no available JS runtime (node/deno/bun/quickjs).
As a result, format extraction succeeds but HLS fragments return 403 Forbidden.

This happens even with valid cookies and proxy enabled.

[DTrombett]

The error says it all: you need a JavaScript runtime in order to solve YouTube challenges. You can either install deno (recommended) OR enable (and install if you haven't) other runtimes such as node using --js-runtime node

[jobsfan]

yt-dlp -vU&nbsp; &nbsp;--js-runtime node&nbsp; &nbsp;--proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9292&nbsp; &nbsp;--cookies-from-browser chrome&nbsp; &nbsp;https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE I have node js installed on my computer. When I use the above command, it show the same error as following(The error just shows today, before it works well.): [debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', '--js-runtime', 'node', '--proxy', 'socks5://127.0.0.1:9292', '--cookies-from-browser', 'chrome', 'https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE'] [debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, pref UTF-8, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8 [debug] yt-dlp version ***@***.*** from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [7a52ff2] (pip) [debug] Python 3.10.18 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - Linux-6.14.0-37-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.39 (OpenSSL 3.5.2 5 Aug 2025, glibc 2.39) [debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 6.1.1 (setts), ffprobe 6.1.1 [debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, certifi-2025.11.12, requests-2.32.5, secretstorage-3.4.0, sqlite3-3.50.4, urllib3-2.6.2 [debug] JS runtimes: node-22.12.0 [debug] Proxy map: {'all': 'socks5://127.0.0.1:9292'} Extracting cookies from chrome [debug] Extracting cookies from: "/home/myComputer/.config/google-chrome/Default/Cookies" [Cookies] Loading cookie&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 0/&nbsp; 3548[debug] detected desktop environment: GNOME [debug] Chosen keyring: GNOMEKEYRING Extracted 3285 cookies from chrome [debug] cookie version breakdown: {'v10': 0, 'v11': 3548, 'other': 0, 'unencrypted': 0} [debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests [debug] Plugin directories: none [debug] Loaded 1854 extractors [debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest Latest version: ***@***.*** from yt-dlp/yt-dlp yt-dlp is up to date ***@***.*** from yt-dlp/yt-dlp) [debug] [youtube] Found YouTube account cookies [debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none [debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory [debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo [debug] [youtube] [jsc] JS Challenge Providers: bun (unavailable), deno (unavailable), node, quickjs (unavailable) [youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading webpage [debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player b75a8e80 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; original url = /s/player/b75a8e80/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading web safari player API JSON [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading player b75a8e80-main [youtube] [jsc:node] Solving JS challenges using node WARNING: [youtube] [jsc] Remote component challenge solver script (node) was skipped. It may be required to solve JS challenges. You can enable the download with&nbsp; --remote-components ejs:github&nbsp; (recommended). For more information and alternatives, refer to&nbsp; https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Signature solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to&nbsp; https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: n challenge solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to&nbsp; https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading m3u8 information [debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto [debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id [debug] Default format spec: bestvideo*+bestaudio/best [info] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading 1 format(s): 301 [debug] Invoking hlsnative downloader on "<manifest url omitted&gt;/index.m3u8" [hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest [hlsnative] Total fragments: 5 [download] Destination: Timeless x Cars ｜ The Weeknd ｜ ''Ever since i was a kid , i been legit＂ #theweeknd #music [18rJogG1thE].mp4 [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (2/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (3/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (4/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (5/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (6/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (7/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (8/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (9/10)... [download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (10/10)... [download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 1 ... .... ERROR: The downloaded file is empty DTrombett left a comment (yt-dlp/yt-dlp#15556) The error says it all: you need a JavaScript runtime in order to solve YouTube challenges. You can either install deno (recommend) OR enable (and install if you haven't) other runtimes such as node using --js-runtime node — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***&gt;

[ruben1PvP]

You are missing yt-dlp-ejs too. I would suggest using pipx install --pip-args=--pre "yt-dlp[default]" to get it (I suppose you installed yt-dlp through pipx).

[DTrombett]

^ if you didn't, add --remote-components ejs:github to the command

[jobsfan]

I try the followig(I am sorry, still not work, my proxy is ok or I can not post things here. I think there may something changed in youtube signature method. Because the yt-dlp --proxy ... command works well before, it raise error today, something changed in youtube, I think):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libdbus-1-dev libglib2.0-dev

pipx install --pip-args="--pre" "yt-dlp[default]"

pipx inject yt-dlp secretstorage pycryptodome

pipx inject yt-dlp quickjs

yt-dlp --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9292 --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE"
Extracting cookies from chrome
Extracted 3286 cookies from chrome
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading web safari player API JSON
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Signature solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: n challenge solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading 1 format(s): 301
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 5
[download] Destination: Timeless x Cars ｜ The Weeknd ｜ ''Ever since i was a kid , i been legit＂ #theweeknd #music [18rJogG1thE].mp4
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 1 ...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 2 ...

[ruben1PvP]

pipx install --pip-args="--pre" "yt-dlp[default]"

Oh yes sorry, I mixed pip and pipx syntax.

yt-dlp --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9292 --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE"
Extracting cookies from chrome
Extracted 3286 cookies from chrome
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading web safari player API JSON
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Signature solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: n challenge solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading 1 format(s): 301
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 5
[download] Destination: Timeless x Cars ｜ The Weeknd ｜ ''Ever since i was a kid , i been legit＂ #theweeknd #music [18rJogG1thE].mp4
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 1 ...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 2 ...

Send a verbose log.

[jobsfan]

yt-dlp -vU --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9292 --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE"
[debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', '--proxy', 'socks5://127.0.0.1:9292', '--cookies-from-browser', 'chrome', 'https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, pref UTF-8, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version nightly@2026.01.06.233142 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds [27afb31] (pip)
[debug] Python 3.12.3 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - Linux-6.14.0-37-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.39 (OpenSSL 3.0.13 30 Jan 2024, glibc 2.39)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 6.1.1 (setts), ffprobe 6.1.1
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.2.0, certifi-2026.01.04, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.5, secretstorage-3.5.0, sqlite3-3.45.1, urllib3-2.6.3, websockets-16.0, yt_dlp_ejs-0.3.2
[debug] JS runtimes: none
[debug] Proxy map: {'all': 'socks5://127.0.0.1:9292'}
Extracting cookies from chrome
[debug] Extracting cookies from: "/home/myComputer/.config/google-chrome/Default/Cookies"
[Cookies] Loading cookie 0/ 3576[debug] detected desktop environment: GNOME
[debug] Chosen keyring: GNOMEKEYRING
Extracted 3313 cookies from chrome
[debug] cookie version breakdown: {'v10': 0, 'v11': 3576, 'other': 0, 'unencrypted': 0}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1853 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/latest
Latest version: nightly@2026.01.06.233142 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds
yt-dlp is up to date (nightly@2026.01.06.233142 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds)
[debug] [youtube] Found YouTube account cookies
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[debug] [youtube] [jsc] JS Challenge Providers: bun (unavailable), deno (unavailable), node (unavailable), quickjs (unavailable)
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player b75a8e80
original url = /s/player/b75a8e80/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading web safari player API JSON
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Signature solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
WARNING: [youtube] 18rJogG1thE: n challenge solving failed: Some formats may be missing. Ensure you have a supported JavaScript runtime and challenge solver script distribution installed. Review any warnings presented before this message. For more details, refer to https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS
[youtube] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading m3u8 information
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo*+bestaudio/best
[info] 18rJogG1thE: Downloading 1 format(s): 301
[debug] Invoking hlsnative downloader on "a very long url .../index.m3u8"
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 5
[download] Destination: Timeless x Cars ｜ The Weeknd ｜ ''Ever since i was a kid , i been legit＂ #theweeknd #music [18rJogG1thE].mp4
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 1 ...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 2 ...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 3 ...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 4 ...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 5 (10/10)...
[download] fragment not found; Skipping fragment 5 ...
ERROR: The downloaded file is empty
File "/home/myComputer/.local/bin/yt-dlp", line 7, in
sys.exit(main())
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/init.py", line 1079, in main
_exit(*variadic(_real_main(argv)))
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/init.py", line 1070, in _real_main
return ydl.download(all_urls)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 3666, in download
self.__download_wrapper(self.extract_info)(
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 3639, in wrapper
res = func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 1685, in extract_info
return self.__extract_info(url, self.get_info_extractor(key), download, extra_info, process)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 1696, in wrapper
return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 1852, in __extract_info
return self.process_ie_result(ie_result, download, extra_info)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 1911, in process_ie_result
ie_result = self.process_video_result(ie_result, download=download)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 3093, in process_video_result
self.process_info(new_info)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 189, in wrapper
return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 3540, in process_info
success, real_download = self.dl(temp_filename, info_dict)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 3282, in dl
return fd.download(name, new_info, subtitle)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/downloader/common.py", line 480, in download
ret = self.real_download(filename, info_dict)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/downloader/hls.py", line 409, in real_download
return self.download_and_append_fragments(ctx, fragments, info_dict)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/downloader/fragment.py", line 526, in download_and_append_fragments
return self._finish_frag_download(ctx, info_dict)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/downloader/fragment.py", line 300, in _finish_frag_download
self.report_error('The downloaded file is empty')
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 1154, in report_error
self.trouble(f'{self._format_err("ERROR:", self.Styles.ERROR)} {message}', *args, **kwargs)
File "/home/myComputer/.local/share/pipx/venvs/yt-dlp/lib/python3.12/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py", line 1082, in trouble
tb_data = traceback.format_list(traceback.extract_stack())

[jobsfan]

it works!!

yt-dlp -vU --js-runtime node --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9292 --cookies-from-browser chrome https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18rJogG1thE

in this way

[jobsfan]

Thank you for your help! However, I’m still confused — why did the code that used to work, namely the version dated December 08, 2025, run smoothly before but fail now?

[DTrombett]

YouTube is locking some formats behind a challenge and yt-dlp needs a js runtime to solve it

[jobsfan]

@DTrombett , thank you!
when js-runtime parameter added, it works.
Before today, it works even without js-runtime parameter. it is weird.

[DTrombett]

@jobsfan You're welcome! Without cookies you should still be able to download some formats without a JS runtime, but we're seeing it to be necessary for logged in downloads