YouTube – “unable to download video data: HTTP Error 404: Not Found”

[faxotherapy]

Checklist

• I'm reporting a broken site support
• I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2020.03.24
• 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

$ youtube-dl -vf 137+140 https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=02Q9IO7kcH4
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: [u'--proxy', u'127.0.0.1:8118', u'--no-check-certificate', u'--youtube-skip-dash-manifest', u'--add-metadata', u'--xattrs']
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-vf', u'137+140', u'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Q9IO7kcH4']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.03.24
[debug] Python version 2.7.17 (CPython) - Darwin-18.7.0-x86_64-i386-64bit
[debug] exe versions: avconv 12.3, avprobe 12.3, ffmpeg 4.2.2, ffprobe 4.2.2, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {u'http': u'127.0.0.1:8118', u'https': u'127.0.0.1:8118'}
[youtube] 02Q9IO7kcH4: Downloading webpage
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r6---sn-5goeen76.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1587613317&ei=JbqgXpXULtTw7ASA1aCAAQ&ip=185.65.135.160&id=o-ACpdP5mmf6RwG9VjhLtajS9bF7NWizg_mGHHsCDWVBJL&itag=137&aitags=133%2C134%2C135%2C136%2C137%2C160%2C242%2C243%2C244%2C247%2C248%2C278%2C298%2C299%2C302%2C303&source=yt_otf&requiressl=yes&mh=Ew&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-5goeen76%2Csn-5go7ynez&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=5&pl=24&initcwndbps=2322500&vprv=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&otf=1&otfp=1&dur=0.000&lmt=1547479791629371&mt=1587591633&fvip=6&keepalive=yes&fexp=23882513&beids=9466585&c=WEB&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Caitags%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cotf%2Cotfp%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AJpPlLswRgIhAJq09nVGAPI7tH4Yy6uoSOKFoJwj36-X2FbstrKYEcUnAiEAoGwH2LtyRijGaCX4X0GxXP6F6Ww6fgkQsDA-2lYClL8%3D&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=ALrAebAwRAIgSaasRbEopEhWUdXk5YtOCgbx8YeMmKTVkJGz1EkOQ70CIHA8GdHymMVDz6TLvI7rmyBX7nM4k4XW8AigiNCK9w2C&ratebypass=yes'
ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 404: Not Found
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1920, in process_info
    partial_success = dl(fname, new_info)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1865, in dl
    return fd.download(name, info)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py", line 366, in download
    return self.real_download(filename, info_dict)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py", line 341, in real_download
    establish_connection()
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py", line 109, in establish_connection
    ctx.data = self.ydl.urlopen(request)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2238, in urlopen
    return self._opener.open(req, timeout=self._socket_timeout)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@2/2.7.17_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 435, in open
    response = meth(req, response)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@2/2.7.17_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 548, in http_response
    'http', request, response, code, msg, hdrs)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@2/2.7.17_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 473, in error
    return self._call_chain(*args)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@2/2.7.17_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 407, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@2/2.7.17_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 556, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), code, msg, hdrs, fp)
HTTPError: HTTP Error 404: Not Found

Description

I try to download a YouTube video as follows:

$ youtube-dl --version
2020.03.24

$ youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=02Q9IO7kcH4                                           [youtube] 02Q9IO7kcH4: Downloading webpage
[info] Available formats for 02Q9IO7kcH4:
format code  extension  resolution note
140          m4a        audio only tiny  130k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k (44100Hz), 9.76MiB
251          webm       audio only tiny  141k , opus @160k (48000Hz), 10.02MiB
278          webm       256x144    144p   95k , webm container, vp9, 30fps, video only
160          mp4        256x144    144p  108k , avc1.4d400b, 30fps, video only
242          webm       426x240    240p  220k , vp9, 30fps, video only
133          mp4        426x240    240p  242k , avc1.4d400c, 30fps, video only
134          mp4        640x360    360p  250k , avc1.4d401e, 30fps, video only, 5.83MiB
243          webm       640x360    360p  405k , vp9, 30fps, video only
244          webm       854x480    480p  752k , vp9, 30fps, video only
135          mp4        854x480    480p 1155k , avc1.4d4014, 30fps, video only
247          webm       1280x720   720p 1505k , vp9, 30fps, video only
136          mp4        1280x720   720p 2310k , avc1.4d4016, 30fps, video only
302          webm       1280x720   720p60 2646k , vp9, 60fps, video only
248          webm       1920x1080  1080p 2646k , vp9, 30fps, video only
298          mp4        1280x720   720p60 3465k , avc1.4d4016, 60fps, video only
137          mp4        1920x1080  1080p 4331k , avc1.64001e, 30fps, video only
303          webm       1920x1080  1080p60 4410k , vp9, 60fps, video only
299          mp4        1920x1080  1080p60 4478k , avc1.64002a, 60fps, video only, 49.22MiB
18           mp4        640x360    360p  254k , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k (44100Hz), 19.14MiB
22           mp4        1280x720   720p  687k , avc1.64001F, mp4a.40.2@192k (44100Hz) (best)

$ youtube-dl -f 137+140 https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=02Q9IO7kcH4                                   [youtube] 02Q9IO7kcH4: Downloading webpage
ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 404: Not Found

Yet, this video is playable on YouTube itself.

BUT, the issue is gone if I input:

$ youtube-dl -f best https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=02Q9IO7kcH4                                      [youtube] 02Q9IO7kcH4: Downloading webpage
[download] Destination: Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.mp4
[download] 100% of 51.77MiB in 00:22
[ffmpeg] Adding metadata to 'Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.mp4'
[metadata] Writing metadata to file's xattrs

The question is why 137+140 is not accepted while shown as available.

It now happens very often.

[dstftw]

> py -3.7 -m youtube_dl -f 137+140 02Q9IO7kcH4
[youtube] 02Q9IO7kcH4: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 02Q9IO7kcH4: Downloading MPD manifest
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 126
[download] Destination: Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.f137.mp4
[download] 100% of 37.99MiB in 01:48
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 65
[download] Destination: Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 9.76MiB in 00:05
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.mp4"
Deleting original file Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.f137.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Wasabi wallet - 5 What are Coinjoins-02Q9IO7kcH4.f140.m4a (pass -k to keep)