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YouTube videos have noticably worse quality once downloaded #23575

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happysmash27 opened this issue Dec 30, 2019 · 5 comments
Closed

YouTube videos have noticably worse quality once downloaded #23575

happysmash27 opened this issue Dec 30, 2019 · 5 comments

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@happysmash27
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@happysmash27 happysmash27 commented Dec 30, 2019

Checklist

  • I'm reporting a broken site support
  • I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2019.12.25
  • I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser
  • I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
  • I've searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

Verbose log

This doesn't really apply to this issue, but here's the log anyway:

Normal:

 % youtube-dl --write-sub --all-subs --embed-subs --write-info-json --write-description "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xe72U7mXNg" -k -v
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--write-sub', '--all-subs', '--embed-subs', '--write-info-json', '--write-description', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xe72U7mXNg', '-k', '-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2019.12.25
[debug] Python version 3.6.8 (CPython) - Linux-4.18.5-gentoo-x86_64-Intel-R-_Xeon-R-_CPU_X5560_@_2.80GHz-with-gentoo-2.6
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.2.1, ffprobe 4.2.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 4xe72U7mXNg: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 4xe72U7mXNg: Downloading video info webpage
WARNING: video doesn't have subtitles
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo+bestaudio/best
[info] Writing video description to: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.description
[info] Writing video description metadata as JSON to: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.info.json
WARNING: Requested formats are incompatible for merge and will be merged into mkv.
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://r1---sn-a5meknsy.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1577770342&ei=BokKXs_2Cv-AsfIPxPaLsAg&ip=47.33.69.186&id=o-AKGL48oQni0v2b_dcbZVfnFRYw4XLjr-8ch4WTJcm7lW&itag=136&aitags=133%2C134%2C135%2C136%2C160%2C242%2C243%2C244%2C247%2C278%2C394%2C395%2C396%2C397%2C398&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mm=31%2C26&mn=sn-a5meknsy%2Csn-o097znld&ms=au%2Conr&mv=m&mvi=0&pl=18&initcwndbps=2200000&mime=video%2Fmp4&gir=yes&clen=30913337&dur=413.833&lmt=1570271290406821&mt=1577748655&fvip=6&keepalive=yes&fexp=23842630%2C23860863&c=WEB&txp=5535432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Caitags%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ALgxI2wwRQIhALO43J3-6FbEtBLCxNlcSfSY7jtdOtz1nlUyAGlM4DfTAiBznuEMtkJtcl5tnpPkWHfPm2-BFQTyPtplnEDqiJAaIQ%3D%3D&lsparams=mm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AHylml4wRQIgMIGhLuM3eOK3g4vaBF4OaAvEZmaKPun899YEggyPZZACIQC-7JudP4-UjaaYMahsesOvWgw6prI0Ut1PYW12UeM3Yg%3D%3D&ratebypass=yes'
[download] Destination: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.f136.mp4
[download] 100% of 29.48MiB in 00:01
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://r1---sn-a5meknsy.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1577770342&ei=BokKXs_2Cv-AsfIPxPaLsAg&ip=47.33.69.186&id=o-AKGL48oQni0v2b_dcbZVfnFRYw4XLjr-8ch4WTJcm7lW&itag=251&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mm=31%2C26&mn=sn-a5meknsy%2Csn-o097znld&ms=au%2Conr&mv=m&mvi=0&pl=18&initcwndbps=2200000&mime=audio%2Fwebm&gir=yes&clen=6708916&dur=413.861&lmt=1570270211763789&mt=1577748655&fvip=6&keepalive=yes&fexp=23842630%2C23860863&c=WEB&txp=5531432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ALgxI2wwRQIhAORzgd_gBe3Tz98pxAYS472BHI7DVuLxtBV6pl7jAauYAiAcTDnDiQwKOeE3-StntFj3WBcxpq7hEWZTVPrWP0jWjQ%3D%3D&lsparams=mm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AHylml4wRQIgMIGhLuM3eOK3g4vaBF4OaAvEZmaKPun899YEggyPZZACIQC-7JudP4-UjaaYMahsesOvWgw6prI0Ut1PYW12UeM3Yg%3D%3D&ratebypass=yes'
[download] Destination: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.f251.webm
[download] 100% of 6.40MiB in 00:00
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.mkv"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -loglevel repeat+info -i 'file:CGI Animated Short Film HD '"'"'A Fox Tale '"'"' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.f136.mp4' -i 'file:CGI Animated Short Film HD '"'"'A Fox Tale '"'"' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.f251.webm' -c copy -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 'file:CGI Animated Short Film HD '"'"'A Fox Tale '"'"' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.temp.mkv'
[ffmpeg] There aren't any subtitles to embed

-f 22:

 % youtube-dl --write-sub --all-subs --embed-subs --write-info-json --write-description "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xe72U7mXNg" -k -f 22 -v
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--write-sub', '--all-subs', '--embed-subs', '--write-info-json', '--write-description', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xe72U7mXNg', '-k', '-f', '22', '-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2019.12.25
[debug] Python version 3.6.8 (CPython) - Linux-4.18.5-gentoo-x86_64-Intel-R-_Xeon-R-_CPU_X5560_@_2.80GHz-with-gentoo-2.6
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.2.1, ffprobe 4.2.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 4xe72U7mXNg: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 4xe72U7mXNg: Downloading video info webpage
WARNING: video doesn't have subtitles
[info] Writing video description to: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.description
[info] Writing video description metadata as JSON to: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.info.json
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://r6---sn-a5m7lnlz.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1577770410&ei=SokKXvO5Fcm2kwafiaWACw&ip=47.33.69.186&id=o-AKvCpxN2iFYxbttvIPXKpOnRHS3wfGtJAWzZd4eKymIN&itag=22&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-a5m7lnlz%2Csn-a5meknsy&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=5&pl=18&initcwndbps=2200000&mime=video%2Fmp4&ratebypass=yes&dur=413.895&lmt=1570271313927237&mt=1577748712&fvip=1&fexp=23842630&c=WEB&txp=5535432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cratebypass%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ALgxI2wwRQIhANPW150tgNu1D7EwQGVZa4FOqlLfmR2ZGHzLzs2SnXrGAiA3GM1gSvyB9DwipWFRYLhWBV_sZkCsOjF3I2QS3-0Gjw%3D%3D&lsparams=mm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AHylml4wRAIgTTR7Svr-yCa0DiIZpN0yp3-qguJYDCrpwbHfBMaHcAkCIDgkcXHkDfAKfFRUxPdYczV-8ZsvH-s3bVYviJLRWgpp'
[download] Destination: CGI Animated Short Film HD 'A Fox Tale ' by A Fox Tale Team _ CGMeetup-4xe72U7mXNg.mp4
[download] 100% of 35.85MiB in 00:01
[ffmpeg] There aren't any subtitles to embed

Description

It appears that Youtube-dl downloads videos which show noticeably worse quality compared to viewing them on YouTube. I have tried both mpv and my in-built browser player, and have tried both using the original video download and the remux, and all seem to have the same issue. Here is the first frame 11 seconds in of both YouTube and mpv playing A Fox Tale, with YouTube shown first, and mpv shown second.

YouTube: https://happysmash27.me/Upload/Screenshots/2019-12-30-152922_1280x1024_scrot.png

MPV: https://happysmash27.me/Upload/Screenshots/2019-12-30-152852_1280x1024_scrot.png

Specifically focusing on the blob to the lower left of the title, it seems to have many more square patches, and I'm not sure why!

This could be both user error or something with the program; I am not sure.
@remitamine
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@remitamine remitamine commented Dec 31, 2019 •
edited

I don't see a difference, but you can try to download all the 720p(with av1, avc1, and vp9 codecs) formats and compare them.
@remitamine remitamine closed this Dec 31, 2019
@happysmash27
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@happysmash27 happysmash27 commented Dec 31, 2019

There's definitely a difference if you zoom in. Here is a section of the video from youtube-dl and here is a section from YouTube. To illustrate even more clearly, here is the youtube-dl section with boosted brightness and contrast, and here is the YouTube section with boosted brightness and contrast. Notice how YouTube-DL has much stronger chunks.
@happysmash27
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@happysmash27 happysmash27 commented Dec 31, 2019

Using the format shown in the stats in Waterfox, f247, seems to give the best quality, so why is 22 marked as best, despite being significantly more chunky?
@remitamine
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@remitamine remitamine commented Dec 31, 2019

read https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#format-selection.
@happysmash27
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@happysmash27 happysmash27 commented Jan 3, 2020

This doesn't help me understand why the quality is worse. I just looked through my old downloaded videos, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9CzRZlA1mQ was downloaded in the high-quality vp9 format when I originally downloaded, but now is downloaded in the low-quality h264 instead, so it seems like the quality has changed for the worse for some reason.
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