ExtractorError: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data

[theocrite]

Checklist

• I'm reporting a broken site support
• I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
• 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 -v P5NB1H5pCHk
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-v', u'P5NB1H5pCHk']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
[debug] Python version 2.7.16 (CPython) - Linux-4.19.0-9-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-10.4
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.1.6-1, ffprobe 4.1.6-1, phantomjs 2.1.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] P5NB1H5pCHk: Downloading webpage
ERROR: P5NB1H5pCHk: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/theo/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 797, in extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/home/theo/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 530, in extract
ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
File "/home/theo/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 1893, in _real_extract
'YouTube said: %s' % unavailable_message, expected=True, video_id=video_id)
ExtractorError: P5NB1H5pCHk: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data

youtube-dl -v 4wZPsFWfi3k
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-v', u'4wZPsFWfi3k']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
[debug] Python version 2.7.16 (CPython) - Linux-4.19.0-9-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-10.4
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.1.6-1, ffprobe 4.1.6-1, phantomjs 2.1.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 4wZPsFWfi3k: Downloading webpage
ERROR: 4wZPsFWfi3k: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/theo/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 797, in extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/home/theo/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 530, in extract
ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
File "/home/theo/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 1893, in _real_extract
'YouTube said: %s' % unavailable_message, expected=True, video_id=video_id)
ExtractorError: 4wZPsFWfi3k: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data

Description

It seems that ytdl can't download restricted videos anymore (the ones behind a "sign in to confirm your age" wall).

[guestbuy5]

I'm seeing the same issue with latest version.

[oSumAtrIX]

I can confirm that this is also happening with HW4IM87DAdg

[ethanbreck]

Seems like a mass issue, as issues #26148 #26123 #26103 is having very similar issues.

[jshir]

Both videos above worked for me - only after I fed it my YouTube cookies.

I came here after noticing a similar problem with _Uelrsz_VfY (even though video is not age restricted and plays in private mode just fine). It seems like YT is requiring a session cookie to dl certain videos (maybe to do with country restrictions as this video got song matched). It doesn't help the user realize this since it's not an error 401.

As more videos have this issue I think it would be a nice enhancement for YTDL to give the user some hand-holding as far as getting cookies.txt set up and automatically using it when needed instead of adding --cookies c:\path\to\youtube-dl\cookies.txt every time.

[ethanbreck]

Yeah, like a youtube-dl --first or youtube-dl --cookie-update that sort of walks you through it would be nice.

[Xan-Kun]

Hey there!
Same here PrJ5Sx1Dtc8 . So is the (missing) cookie actually the issue here?
Can someone confirm?

[bustbr]

PR #26100 fixes the age-gate check, but it's not merged into upstream yet. You can apply the patch locally.

[Xan-Kun]

I ask because I tried two approaches to provide cookies for a logged-in user and both didn't work (providing text file and --add-header option).
I assume I got something wrong in the format then...
Edit: Got it working with the browser plugin and the --cookies option. And now it downloads the video with an age-check.

[BrimDragster]

Happens with yJj9q-67ivA too.

[chudsaviet]

Another example with this error: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL276M79mYE .

[mixon2020]

I am having the same issue as #26299.
here is what my software gave me as the issue

ERROR: Unable to download webpage: HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests (caused by HTTPError()); please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see https://yt-dl.org/update on how to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

I am using a current updated version of Windows 10.
I am running youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
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

None of the videos are age restricted

[penyuan]

Edit: Got it working with the browser plugin and the --cookies option.

This only works sporadically for me, very often I still get the "Unable to extract video data" error. I'm not sure what triggers the error.

[mixon2020]

Thank you will try that

[penyuan]

Thank you will try that

Well like I said it only works for me occasionally. Hopefully a more fundamental solution can be found for the "unable to extract video data" error.

[Cyrix126]

I don't know if it's helpful, but if you're not connected to an account on youtube, you can still see a restricted video by changing in the url "watch?v=" with "embed/". Unfortunately doing this with youtube-dl doesn't work.

[tezJR]

Is there an easy way for those without programming experience to apply the patch locally? And how do I create/find the cookies.txt file?

[omgitsraven]

If you're running it in Python, there's no programming necessary, just change this line in this file: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/pull/26100/files

If you're running it from an .exe file (as recommended on Windows), I'm not sure what to recommend, I haven't looked into the compilation process myself

[tezJR]

I'm running it from the .exe in Windows 10. I have Python 3.7.4 but wouldn't know how to use it for this without step-by-step instructions. EDIT: nicolaasjan's solution below worked for me.

[nicolaasjan]

Is there an easy way for those without programming experience to apply the patch locally? And how do I create/find the cookies.txt file?

A cookies.txt file can be created with the "cookies.txt" extension.
Do this while being logged in to YouTube.

For Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/
For Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cookiestxt/njabckikapfpffapmjgojcnbfjonfjfg

Then run youtube-dl like this:
youtube-dl.exe --cookies C:\Users\tezJR\Downloads\cookies-txt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=$VIDEO-ID
(adjust that command to where your cookies.txt file is actually located and replace $VIDEO-ID with the ID of your restricted video).

[tezJR]

That worked! Thank you very much, nicolaasjan!

[nicolaasjan]

That worked! Thank you very much, nicolaasjan!

No problem.

I have sent you a mail with instructions to compile youtube-dl.exe yourself.
It's not that complicated when you have Python installed.

[Rikk]

What's happening with youtube-dl team? No commits in a long time, and no fix for this obvious bug that has been reported many times?

[deepesh-agarwal]

#26100 Fixed most of the videos for me but the one as shown below is still not working.

youtube-dl -F -v 7takIh1nK0s
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-F', u'-v', u'7takIh1nK0s']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
[debug] Python version 2.7.16 (CPython) - Linux-4.19.0-6-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-10.2
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.2.1, ffprobe 4.2.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 7takIh1nK0s: Downloading webpage
ERROR: 7takIh1nK0s: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 797, in extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 530, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 1893, in _real_extract
    'YouTube said: %s' % unavailable_message, expected=True, video_id=video_id)
ExtractorError: 7takIh1nK0s: YouTube said: Unable to extract video data

[nicolaasjan]

#26100 Fixed most of the videos for me but the one as shown below is still not working.

When launching youtube-dl with python3 (and fix #26100) , I get a little bit further:

python3 youtube-dl --ignore-config -F -v 7takIh1nK0s
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--ignore-config', '-F', '-v', '7takIh1nK0s']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
[debug] Python version 3.6.9 (CPython) - Linux-4.15.0-112-generic-x86_64-with-LinuxMint-19.3-tricia
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-98759-g1c7e55d, ffprobe N-98759-g1c7e55d
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 7takIh1nK0s: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 7takIh1nK0s: Downloading embed webpage
[youtube] 7takIh1nK0s: Refetching age-gated info webpage
ERROR: Watch this video on YouTube. Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 797, in extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 530, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 2212, in _real_extract
    raise ExtractorError(error_message, expected=True)
youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: Watch this video on YouTube. Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner.

Note:
ERROR: Watch this video on YouTube. Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner.
Don't know how to work around that...

[antdude]

Same here with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8PP4xLHdQ (Lovecraft Country: “Sundown” (Episode 1 - Full Episode) | HBO Max) from two different 64-bit Linux boxes.

[fdk17]

python3 youtube-dl --ignore-config -F -v 7takIh1nK0s

Note:
ERROR: Watch this video on YouTube. Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner.
Don't know how to work around that...

This video worked fine when following directions using cookie option in #26152 (comment)

[upex]

I ask because I tried two approaches to provide cookies for a logged-in user and both didn't work (providing text file and --add-header option).
I assume I got something wrong in the format then...
Edit: Got it working with the browser plugin and the --cookies option. And now it downloads the video with an age-check.

I ask because I tried two approaches to provide cookies for a logged-in user and both didn't work (providing text file and --add-header option).
I assume I got something wrong in the format then...
Edit: Got it working with the browser plugin and the --cookies option. And now it downloads the video with an age-check.

Hey @Xan-Kun , i did the same thing but every time I try to fetch URLs, the cookies.txt file gets override!! Is it expected behaviour? Also, I am running those commands in AWS hosted ubuntu machine. Please help.

[upex]

Is there an easy way for those without programming experience to apply the patch locally? And how do I create/find the cookies.txt file?

A cookies.txt file can be created with the "cookies.txt" extension.
Do this while being logged in to YouTube.

For Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/
For Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cookiestxt/njabckikapfpffapmjgojcnbfjonfjfg

Then run youtube-dl like this:
youtube-dl.exe --cookies C:\Users\tezJR\Downloads\cookies-txt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=$VIDEO-ID
(adjust that command to where your cookies.txt file is actually located and replace $VIDEO-ID with the ID of your restricted video).

Hey @nicolaasjan , i did the same thing but every time I try to fetch URLs, the cookies.txt file gets override!! Is it expected behaviour? Also, I am running those commands in AWS hosted ubuntu machine. Please help.

[nicolaasjan]

Hey @nicolaasjan , i did the same thing but every time I try to fetch URLs, the cookies.txt file gets override!! Is it expected behaviour? Also, I am running those commands in AWS hosted ubuntu machine. Please help.

I read somewhere, that youtube-dl changes the expiration date of the cookies in it, so that it keeps working as intended.
In the header of the file it says:
# This file is generated by youtube-dl. Do not edit.

The expiration dates are in Unix Timestamp format, so 1603788661 means 10/27/2020 @ 8:51am (UTC)
(you can convert these values online here:
https://www.unixtimestamp.com/index.php)

[spiralofhope]

@nicolaasjan said:
I read somewhere, that youtube-dl changes the expiration date of the cookies in it, so that it keeps working as intended.

I tested and confirmed it's being very heavily rewritten.

[Xan-Kun]

Hey @Xan-Kun , i did the same thing but every time I try to fetch URLs, the cookies.txt file gets override!! Is it expected behaviour? Also, I am running those commands in AWS hosted ubuntu machine. Please help.

@upex Hi there. Yes it does! I just checked and didn't realise it before, but when I start the download, the cookies file gets overwritten.
(Didn't check the contents so far, only timestamp)

[ayunami2000]

Perhaps try to specify quality? That worked for me but I'm not entirely sure if I ever actually tested it with no args. See if that works for you.

…

On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 7:29 AM Xan-Kun ***@***.***> wrote: Hey @Xan-Kun <https://github.com/Xan-Kun> , i did the same thing but every time I try to fetch URLs, the cookies.txt file gets override!! Is it expected behaviour? Also, I am running those commands in AWS hosted ubuntu machine. Please help. @upex <https://github.com/upex> Hi there. Yes it does! I just checked and didn't realise it before, but when I start the download, the cookies file gets overwritten. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#26152 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AF5DB4HIQ3KRYJKCXNU5XKLSFX5BZANCNFSM4PLAN72A> .

[dilungasr]

To me: removing YouTube-dl downloaded using sudo apt install youtube-dl and installing it using pip3 install youtube-dl solved the issue!

FOR LINUX USERS ONLY!!!

[walkoncross]

To me: removing YouTube-dl downloaded using sudo apt install youtube-dl and installing it using pip3 install youtube-dl solved the issue!

FOR LINUX USERS ONLY!!!

This works on MacOS for me.
"""
$ brew uninstall youtube-dl
Uninstalling /usr/local/Cellar/youtube-dl/2020.11.1.1... (2,203 files, 16.4MB)

$ pip3 install youtube-dl

Collecting youtube-dl
Downloading youtube_dl-2020.12.12-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.8 MB)
|████████████████████████████████| 1.8 MB 1.1 MB/s
Installing collected packages: youtube-dl
Successfully installed youtube-dl-2020.12.12
"""

[AveragedevRK]

Try installing it with snap instead of apt or apt-get

sudo snap install youtube-dl

[SatyamGaba]

To me: removing YouTube-dl downloaded using sudo apt install youtube-dl and installing it using pip3 install youtube-dl solved the issue!

FOR LINUX USERS ONLY!!!

I get following error:

-bash: /usr/bin/youtube-dl: No such file or directory

Can anyone help me to resolve it?

[sfolje0]

To me: removing YouTube-dl downloaded using sudo apt install youtube-dl and installing it using pip3 install youtube-dl solved the issue!
FOR LINUX USERS ONLY!!!

I get following error:

-bash: /usr/bin/youtube-dl: No such file or directory

Can anyone help me to resolve it?

Hi @SatyamGaba,

Did you try running python3 -m youtube_dl (i.e. running reinstalled python's modul youtube-dl)?
Note also: youtube_dl and not youtube-dl in the above command.

Explained:
I suspect that your specific problem is that when you uninstalled youtube-dl using apt, it also deleted the binary /usr/bin/youtube-dl and therefore comand $ youtube-dl in bash will return your-mentioned error. When you 'reinstalled' it with pip, it stayed inside python's (private?) packages without creating yotube-dl executable. But that's no problem, just run it via python as said.