[YouTube] Format misdetection? Cannot download video

[joepie91]

• Platform: openSUSE 13.1, x86_64, XFCE
• Version: 2015.11.13
• URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK4nhVMUC8
• Resolver: youtube

Likely a similar issue to #6341. Video doesn't download when using bestvideo+bestaudio (using an alias), likely because no separate audio track is available:

sven@linux-etoq:~/ytdl-test> ytdl -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK4nhVMUC8
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--title', u'--continue', u'--retries', u'4', u'--write-info-json', u'--write-description', u'--write-thumbnail', u'--write-annotations', u'--all-subs', u'--ignore-errors', u'--merge-output-format', u'mkv', u'-f', u'bestvideo+bestaudio', u'-v', u'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK4nhVMUC8']
[debug] Encodings: locale ANSI_X3.4-1968, fs ANSI_X3.4-1968, out ANSI_X3.4-1968, pref ANSI_X3.4-1968
[debug] youtube-dl version 2015.11.13
[debug] Python version 2.7.6 - Linux-3.11.10-29-desktop-x86_64-with-SuSE-13.1-x86_64
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 2.8.1, ffprobe 2.8.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Extracting video information
WARNING: video doesn't have subtitles
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Searching for annotations.
ERROR: requested format not available
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 672, in extract_info
    return self.process_ie_result(ie_result, download, extra_info)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 718, in process_ie_result
    return self.process_video_result(ie_result, download=download)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1328, in process_video_result
    expected=True)
ExtractorError: requested format not available

Format list according to -F:

sven@linux-etoq:~/ytdl-test> ytdl -v -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK4nhVMUC8
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--title', u'--continue', u'--retries', u'4', u'--write-info-json', u'--write-description', u'--write-thumbnail', u'--write-annotations', u'--all-subs', u'--ignore-errors', u'--merge-output-format', u'mkv', u'-f', u'bestvideo+bestaudio', u'-v', u'-F', u'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK4nhVMUC8']
[debug] Encodings: locale ANSI_X3.4-1968, fs ANSI_X3.4-1968, out ANSI_X3.4-1968, pref ANSI_X3.4-1968
[debug] youtube-dl version 2015.11.13
[debug] Python version 2.7.6 - Linux-3.11.10-29-desktop-x86_64-with-SuSE-13.1-x86_64
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 2.8.1, ffprobe 2.8.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Extracting video information
WARNING: video doesn't have subtitles
[youtube] 8kK4nhVMUC8: Searching for annotations.
[info] Available formats for 8kK4nhVMUC8:
format code  extension  resolution note
17           3gp        176x144    small ,  mp4a.40.2, mp4v.20.3
36           3gp        320x240    small ,  mp4a.40.2, mp4v.20.3
5            flv        400x240    small 
18           mp4        640x360    medium ,  mp4a.40.2, avc1.42001E (best)

In this case, the download only works correctly when specifying -f 18 without an audio format.

[yan12125]

You're right this video does not provide audio or video only formats. -f bestvideo+bestaudio/best fits your need.

[joepie91]

Can you clarify a bit more on what -f bestvideo+bestaudio/best does? Am I correct in understanding that it basically means "try bestvideo+bestaudio first, and if that isn't available, just try the best combined format"?

Or, worded differently: Can I use this by default, without reducing the quality of videos that do have a separate audio and video format?

[yan12125]

try bestvideo+bestaudio first, and if that isn't available, just try the best combined format

Yes you're right.

Can I use this by default, without reducing the quality of videos that do have a separate audio and video format?

For YouTube, it's the usual case that bestvideo+bestaudio results in equal or better quality than best, with some exceptions. Cases can be found in #7034. Current youtube-dl can't handle such cases correctly, so there's no guarantee.

[joepie91]

I see, thanks. I'm going to track #7034 - I use youtube-dl primarily for archival purposes, so such an issue is pretty critical to me.