UnicodeDecodeError with 2014.11.04 --write-info-json

[jspiros]

With 2014.11.04, when I run this:

youtube-dl --ignore-errors --no-continue --write-description --write-info-json --write-annotations --write-thumbnail --output "/tmp/test's videos/%(upload_date)s.%(title)s.%(id)s.%(ext)s" --download-archive "/tmp/test's videos/.youtube-dl-archive" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLajrxAKXjOIEPYjta8UEOqwWMPmaJwnFK"

I get this:

[youtube:playlist] PLajrxAKXjOIEPYjta8UEOqwWMPmaJwnFK: Downloading webpage
[download] Downloading playlist: youtube-dl bug test playlist
[youtube:playlist] playlist youtube-dl bug test playlist: Collected 1 video ids (downloading 1 of them)
[download] Downloading video #1 of 1
[youtube] Confirming age
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Extracting video information
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Searching for annotations.
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Downloading DASH manifest
[info] Writing video description to: /tmp/test's videos/20140329.cute fox video キツネの鳴き声（キツネ村にて）.2UQWmA4VHC0.mp4.description
[info] Writing video annotations to: /tmp/test's videos/20140329.cute fox video キツネの鳴き声（キツネ村にて）.2UQWmA4VHC0.mp4.annotations.xml
[info] Writing video description metadata as JSON to: /tmp/test's videos/20140329.cute fox video キツネの鳴き声（キツネ村にて）.2UQWmA4VHC0.info.json
ERROR: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 24: ordinal not in range(128)

And when I add -v:

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-v', '--ignore-errors', '--no-continue', '--write-description', '--write-info-json', '--write-annotations', '--write-thumbnail', '--output', "/tmp/test's videos/%(upload_date)s.%(title)s.%(id)s.%(ext)s", '--download-archive', "/tmp/test's videos/.youtube-dl-archive", 'https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLajrxAKXjOIEPYjta8UEOqwWMPmaJwnFK']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2014.11.04
[debug] Python version 2.7.8 - Linux-3.16-2-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-jessie-sid
[debug] exe versions: avconv 11-6, avprobe 11-6
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube:playlist] PLajrxAKXjOIEPYjta8UEOqwWMPmaJwnFK: Downloading webpage
[download] Downloading playlist: youtube-dl bug test playlist
[youtube:playlist] playlist youtube-dl bug test playlist: Collected 1 video ids (downloading 1 of them)
[download] Downloading video #1 of 1
[youtube] Confirming age
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Extracting video information
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Searching for annotations.
[youtube] 2UQWmA4VHC0: Downloading DASH manifest
[info] Writing video description to: /tmp/test's videos/20140329.cute fox video キツネの鳴き声（キツネ村にて）.2UQWmA4VHC0.mp4.description
[info] Writing video annotations to: /tmp/test's videos/20140329.cute fox video キツネの鳴き声（キツネ村にて）.2UQWmA4VHC0.mp4.annotations.xml
[info] Writing video description metadata as JSON to: /tmp/test's videos/20140329.cute fox video キツネの鳴き声（キツネ村にて）.2UQWmA4VHC0.info.json
ERROR: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 24: ordinal not in range(128)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/jspiros/.virtualenvs/youtube-dl-bug-test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 547, in extract_info
    return self.process_ie_result(ie_result, download, extra_info)
  File "/home/jspiros/.virtualenvs/youtube-dl-bug-test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 593, in process_ie_result
    return self.process_video_result(ie_result, download=download)
  File "/home/jspiros/.virtualenvs/youtube-dl-bug-test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 861, in process_video_result
    self.process_info(new_info)
  File "/home/jspiros/.virtualenvs/youtube-dl-bug-test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 995, in process_info
    write_json_file(info_dict, encodeFilename(infofn))
  File "/home/jspiros/.virtualenvs/youtube-dl-bug-test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/utils.py", line 79, in write_json_file
    'prefix': os.path.basename(fn) + '.',
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 24: ordinal not in range(128)

I have no idea why this is happening. I see no reason for this to be happening on line 79 of utils.py, at least. I inspected the fn variable immediately before that line of code, and I see no reason for os.path.basename(fn) + '.' to cause this exception.

[kenorb]

The same for 9FvvfB5rfAg, 5VMzsZ5UqV8 and CGDJ6tKzrbI:

ERROR: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 9: ordinal not in range(128)

[jaimeMF]

Thanks a lot for the report!, it will work in the next version.

[phihag]

Fixed in youtube-dl 2014.11.20. See our FAQ if you have problems updating.