ffmpeg/avconv error "could not write header output"

[lightonflux]

  $ youtube-dl --version       
  2015.08.28
  $  youtube-dl https://soundcloud.com/eafumblind/sets/absolutedrift
  […]
  [download] 100% of 19.38MiB
  [ffmpeg] Adding metadata to 'Nyte - Neon Lights-159711594.mp3'
  ERROR: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument

[yan12125]

Post the full verbose log with --verbose

[lightonflux]

Thanks for your fast response.

 $ youtube-dl https://soundcloud.com/eafumblind/sets/absolutedrift --verbose 
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--add-metadata', u'-ct', u'-f', u'bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best', u'https://soundcloud.com/eafumblind/sets/absolutedrift', u'--verbose']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2015.08.28
[debug] Python version 2.7.9 - Linux-4.0.0-2-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-8.1
[debug] exe versions: avconv 11.4-6, avprobe 11.4-6
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[soundcloud:set] eafumblind/sets/absolutedrift: Resolving id
[soundcloud:set] eafumblind/sets/absolutedrift: Downloading JSON metadata
[download] Downloading playlist: Absolute Drift Soundtrack
[soundcloud:set] playlist Absolute Drift Soundtrack: Collected 45 video ids (downloading 45 of them)
[download] Downloading video 1 of 45
[soundcloud] nyteofficial/neon-lights: Resolving id
[soundcloud] nyteofficial/neon-lights: Downloading info JSON
[soundcloud] 159711594: Downloading track url
[soundcloud] 159711594: Checking download video format URL
[soundcloud] 159711594: Checking http_mp3_128_url video format URL
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/159711594/download?client_id=b45b1aa10f1ac2941910a7f0d10f8e28'
[download] Nyte - Neon Lights-159711594.mp3 has already been downloaded
[download] 100% of 19.38MiB
[ffmpeg] Adding metadata to 'Nyte - Neon Lights-159711594.mp3'
[debug] ffmpeg command line: avconv -y -i 'Nyte - Neon Lights-159711594.mp3' -c copy -metadata 'comment=Neon Lights by Nyte. Available now on:
Beatport - smarturl.it/BTSEPBeatport
iTunes - http://smarturl.it/BTSEPiTunes

More info:

www.facebook.com/nyteofficial
www.youtube.com/nyteofficial
www.twitter.com/nyteofficial
www.nyteofficial.com' -metadata 'description=Neon Lights by Nyte. Available now on:
Beatport - smarturl.it/BTSEPBeatport
iTunes - http://smarturl.it/BTSEPiTunes

More info:

www.facebook.com/nyteofficial
www.youtube.com/nyteofficial
www.twitter.com/nyteofficial
www.nyteofficial.com' -metadata 'artist=Nyte (Official)' -metadata 'title=Nyte - Neon Lights' -metadata date=20140721 -metadata purl=http://soundcloud.com/nyteofficial/neon-lights 'Nyte - Neon Lights-159711594.temp.mp3'
ERROR: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1699, in post_process
    files_to_delete, info = pp.run(info)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 391, in run
    self.run_ffmpeg(filename, temp_filename, options)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 155, in run_ffmpeg
    self.run_ffmpeg_multiple_files([path], out_path, opts)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 151, in run_ffmpeg_multiple_files
    raise FFmpegPostProcessorError(msg)
FFmpegPostProcessorError

[yan12125]

This looks like an avconv bug. I've reported it to Libav at https://bugzilla.libav.org/show_bug.cgi?id=885. Use ffmpeg instead solves the problem. You may need --prefer-ffmpeg and --ffmpeg-location. See Post-processing Options for more information about these options.

[lightonflux]

Thank you very much for your testing. I installed ffmpeg and it works. As this isn't a youtube-dl bug…