UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x8b in position 1: invalid start byte

[vinnitu]

$ youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBqt5vw5JpE
[youtube] Setting language
[youtube] bBqt5vw5JpE: Downloading video webpage
[youtube] bBqt5vw5JpE: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] bBqt5vw5JpE: Extracting video information
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 162, in _run_module_as_main
    "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code
    exec code in run_globals
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/__main__.py", line 7, in <module>
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/__init__.py", line 535, in main
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/__init__.py", line 519, in _real_main
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/FileDownloader.py", line 475, in download
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/InfoExtractors.py", line 80, in extract
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/InfoExtractors.py", line 355, in _real_extract
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/encodings/utf_8.py", line 16, in decode
    return codecs.utf_8_decode(input, errors, True)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x8b in position 1: invalid start byte

[phihag]

Thank you for the report! Can you post the output you get when you add the -v option?

[vinnitu]

$ youtube-dl -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBqt5vw5JpE
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] Setting language
[youtube] bBqt5vw5JpE: Downloading video webpage
[youtube] bBqt5vw5JpE: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] bBqt5vw5JpE: Extracting video information
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 162, in _run_module_as_main
    "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code
    exec code in run_globals
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/__main__.py", line 7, in <module>
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/__init__.py", line 535, in main
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/__init__.py", line 519, in _real_main
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/FileDownloader.py", line 475, in download
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/InfoExtractors.py", line 80, in extract
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/InfoExtractors.py", line 355, in _real_extract
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/encodings/utf_8.py", line 16, in decode
    return codecs.utf_8_decode(input, errors, True)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x8b in position 1: invalid start byte

[jaimeMF]

It seems you are using a really outdated version, please read our FAQ for updating.

If the problem still exists with the last version, post the output of youtube-dl -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBqt5vw5JpE and we will reopen the issue.