Bug report：Cannot find video formats

[JackieXie168]

I use this program to download facebook video then got the following error message.

$ youtube-dl https://www.facebook.com/englishbad/videos/557269211145445/
[facebook] 557269211145445: Downloading webpage
ERROR: Cannot find video formats; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

Note：I've already download and run the latest version of youtube-dl. It's no problem to download facebook video yesterday, but today is not...

OS : Mac OS X - mountain lion v10.8.5

$ youtube-dl https://www.facebook.com/englishbad/videos/557269211145445/ -v
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'https://www.facebook.com/englishbad/videos/557269211145445/', u'-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.06.20
[debug] Python version 2.7.11 - Darwin-12.6.0-x86_64-i386-64bit
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 3.0.2, ffprobe 3.0.2
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[facebook] 557269211145445: Downloading webpage
ERROR: Cannot find video formats; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/opt/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 676, in extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/opt/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 343, in extract
return self._real_extract(url)
File "/opt/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 290, in _real_extract
webpage, info_dict = self._extract_from_url(real_url, video_id, fatal_if_no_video=False)
File "/opt/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 261, in _extract_from_url
raise ExtractorError('Cannot find video formats')
ExtractorError: Cannot find video formats; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

[kotofond]

Exact same issue for https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=274175099429670:

---

Make sure you are using the latest version: run youtube-dl --version and ensure your version is 2016.06.20. If it's not read this FAQ entry and update. Issues with outdated version will be rejected.

• I've verified and I assure that I'm running youtube-dl 2016.06.20

Before submitting an issue make sure you have:

• At least skimmed through README and most notably FAQ and BUGS sections
• Searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

What is the purpose of your issue?

• Bug report (encountered problems with youtube-dl)
• Site support request (request for adding support for a new site)
• Feature request (request for a new functionality)
• Question
• Other

---

Add -v flag to your command line you run youtube-dl with, copy the whole output and insert it here. It should look similar to one below (replace it with your log inserted between triple ```):

~> youtube-dl --verbose "https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=274175099429670"
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--verbose', u'https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=274175099429670']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.06.20
[debug] Python version 2.7.9 - Linux-3.16.0-4-amd64-x86_64-with-LinuxMint-2-betsy
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 2.6.9, ffprobe 2.6.9
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[facebook] 274175099429670: Downloading webpage
ERROR: Cannot find video formats; 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.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 676, in extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 343, in extract
    return self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 290, in _real_extract
    webpage, info_dict = self._extract_from_url(real_url, video_id, fatal_if_no_video=False)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 261, in _extract_from_url
    raise ExtractorError('Cannot find video formats')
ExtractorError: Cannot find video formats; 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.

[hoonoh]

The download has been working fine until yesterday for me, except the downloaded video was most of the time different from what I was expecting. (was downloading different video)

[oplaza]

same here:

youtube-dl --verbose https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=1123523814353434
[debug] System config: [u'--prefer-free-formats']
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--verbose', u'https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=1123523814353434']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.05.16
[debug] Python version 2.6.6 - Linux-2.6.32-042stab106.4-x86_64-with-centos-6.6-Final
[debug] exe versions: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[facebook] 1123523814353434: Downloading webpage
ERROR: Cannot find video formats; 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.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 676, in extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 341, in extract
return self._real_extract(url)
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 290, in _real_extract
webpage, info_dict = self._extract_from_url(real_url, video_id, fatal_if_no_video=False)
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 261, in _extract_from_url
raise ExtractorError('Cannot find video formats')
ExtractorError: Cannot find video formats; 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.

[shaicoleman]

It seems that beforehand Facebook returned a list of dicts, and now it returns just a dict if there only one result.

I've looked into it, the problem seems to be in extractor/facebook.py with the following lines:

if not f or not isinstance(f, list):

                src = f[0].get('%s_%s' % (quality, src_type))

        dash_manifest = f[0].get('dash_manifest')

[shaicoleman]

Pull request #9856 to fix

[jaimeMF]

It will be fixed in the next version thanks to @shaicoleman. Thanks for reporting the issue!

[JackieXie168]

It's happened again, but this time the error message is 'ERROR: Cannot parse data;...'

$ youtube-dl --verbose https://www.facebook.com/chinatimes.com.tw/videos/637872803059185/
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--verbose', u'https://www.facebook.com/chinatimes.com.tw/videos/637872803059185/']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.10.02
[debug] Python version 2.7.12 - Darwin-12.6.0-x86_64-i386-64bit
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 3.1.4, ffprobe 3.1.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[facebook] 637872803059185: Downloading webpage
[facebook] 637872803059185: Downloading webpage
ERROR: Cannot parse data; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/jackie/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 694, in extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/Users/jackie/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 355, in extract
return self._real_extract(url)
File "/Users/jackie/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 352, in _real_extract
video_id, fatal_if_no_video=True)
File "/Users/jackie/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 276, in _extract_from_url
raise ExtractorError('Cannot parse data')
ExtractorError: Cannot parse data; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

[yan12125]

@JackieXie168 Seems the same problem as #10846