Some known common issues. Make sure to always check this before opening issues. Duplicates of these will be strictly treated as spam!

Useful issue tracker filters:

[Core Issues] [Site Issues] [YouTube issues] [Good issues for new devs]

High priority issues

• [Youtube] ERROR: Video unavailable. Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner (web_embedded player response playability status: UNPLAYABLE) #17497
• [Youtube] ERROR: The page needs to be reloaded (tv_downgraded player response playability status: UNPLAYABLE) #17389
• [Youtube] Only format 18 (360p) is available for age-restricted videos #17542

Intractable issues

• [YouTube] This content isn't available, try again later. #11426
  • You are exceeding the rate limit. Refer to the wiki on how to avoid.
• Passing Youtube cookies doesn't seem to work; cookies are being invalidated quickly #8227
  • How to effectively export YouTube cookies
• [youtube] Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot #10128
  • Your IP has been blocked by YouTube while you are logged out. You can pass logged-in cookies; however, doing so may get your account blocked. The safer solution is to use a different IP.
  • To prevent this, try using a PO Token provider, though it will not help if your IP is already blocked.
• [youtube] "Video unavailable" with cookies - YouTube blocking accounts from web #10085
  • Your account has been blocked by YouTube, or the video is not available in your region.
  • Avoid passing cookies, or add a sleep delay to each download.
• [Youtube] Immediate HTTP Error 403 on download #11868
  • Try using --force-ipv4, try using yt-dlp from a different IP address (e.g. disable your VPN), try using logged-in cookies if you were using yt-dlp logged-out, or try using yt-dlp without cookies if you were using logged-in cookies

Recently solved bugs

Use nightly/master builds, pip install nightly or master, or wait for release

• [twitch:clips] An extractor error has occurred. (caused by KeyError('data')) version 2026.08.19 #17553
• The updater (-U/--update/--update-to) gets bad responses from GitHub (WARNING: The hash could not be found in the checksum file, skipping verification) #17550

Update to latest version

• [Youtube] ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden (with android_vr) #17456
• [TikTok] Unexpected response from webpage request #17403
• [Tiktok] Videos intermittently downloading without sound #16622
• All of a sudden I get this after an update - [PYI-33316:ERROR] Security validation failure: parent process has different executable! #17448
• [vimeo] Failed to fetch macos OAuth token: HTTP Error 401: Unauthorized #17401
• [youtube:tab] Playlist extraction only yields 100-120 results instead of all entries #16943
• [Instagram] "Instagram sent an empty media response" WITHOUT cookies #17074
• [YouTube] --live-from-start and post-live streams are broken with cookies (No video formats found / This live event has ended / Video should already be available) #15274
• [youtube] --live-from-start formats max out at 1080p but 4K is available in browser #15367

Bugs

• [YouTube] download: got error, X bytes read, Y more expected, Retrying (N/10)... #16796
• [YouTube] Unable to download video subtitles: HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests #13831
• [youtube] web only has SABR formats #12482
  • Try using PO Tokens with the mweb or web_creator player clients
• [youtube:tab] Shorts playlists: Only 100 shorts are extracted from playlist #11130
• [kick:vod] VOD metadata returning 404 Not Found due to recent site URL changes #17284
• [Vimeo] HTTP Error 429/403 When Using Impersonate Target #10422
• [Rumble] Unable to download webpage: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden #15089
• [twitch] Cannot extract more than 100 VODs from a channel when providing cookies to yt-dlp #7058
  • Do not pass cookies to yt-dlp
• [facebook] Cannot parse data #4311
• [facebook] "Cannot parse data" with cookies (impersonation needed) #15161
• [instagram:user] ERROR: Unable to extract data #4394
• [patreon] with logged-in cookies: Unable to download JSON metadata: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden #12092
• --ap-mso DTV Broken: Unable to extract post url #2188
• [ytmusic] Parse metadata from music.youtube.com #622 / [Youtube] Can't download "Music Charts" at format 141 #5546
  • Metadata from youtube.com is used for ytmusic
• Twitch live streams have out of sync audio and lowered pitch #4280
  • Use --live-from-start or --fixup never
• Cannot download video from udemy #1164
• --trim-filenames fails to clip file name properly when there is a dot in a video title #2314
  • Use -o %(title).200B.%(ext)s
• [teachable] ERROR: Unable to find Video URL https://edu.ecomsuccess.pk/courses/enrolled/903296 #3564
• CeskaTelevize broken #6539
• iQIYI extractor can't find any video #2740
• [Viu] URLs are using generic extractor instead of Viu extractor #6482
• [abciview + others] ERROR: Data must be padded to 16 byte boundary in CBC mode #3810
• [Ixigua] ERROR: Failed to get SSR_HYDRATED_DATA #5374
• Douyin always errors saying fresh cookies are needed, even when passing them #9667
• [TikTok:live] Livestreams are mistaken as "not currently live" after JSON metadata request #11921
• [tiktok:live] Unable to download JSON metadata: HTTP Error 400: Bad Request #16850
• [tiktok] API returns empty response #13134
• [TikTok] One format, varying results (region-related) #15690
• [TikTok] Unable to extract universal data for rehydration #17393
• Only audio downloads for TikTok videos that have a shopping cart #13928
• [BiliBili] Unable to download webpage: HTTP Error 412: Precondition Failed #14830
• [LinkedIn] Unable to extract video from LinkedIn group post #16531

External issues

• [Youtube] HTTP Error 403 when using bgutil-ytdlp-pot-provider plugin #17368
• ffmpeg can't seek in Youtube's iOS m3u8 streams / --download-sections only downloads audio #9552
  • Use -S proto:https or --extractor-args "youtube:player_client=default,-ios"
• --cookies-from-browser "Permission denied" errors when Chrome/chromium-based browser is open in Windows #7271
  • Try after closing chrome completely OR
  • Launch chrome from command line w/ chrome.exe --disable-features=LockProfileCookieDatabase
  • Alternatively, you can install the ChomeCookieUnlock yt-dlp plugin
• --cookies-from-browser: WARNING: failed to decrypt with DPAPI / ERROR: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'decode' #10927
• [youtube] Is downloading a livestream in 1440p or 2160p no longer available? #11262
• [Youtube] 8k VR180 SBS videos no longer available #9903
  • Use --extractor-arg "youtube:player_client=android_vr,default"
• [Youtube] throttling and inconsistent speed in Russia #10443
  • Workarounds
• [Discord bot] Music stops in the middle #8854
• [youtube] Endless "Incomplete data received" when downloading playlist #10394
  • Don't use --extractor-retries infinite
• FFMPEG "Invalid data found when processing input" on live/post-live/dash videos (duplicate ftyp) #8641
  • Regression in ffmpeg 6.1. Upgrade to ffmpeg 6.1.1 or to master build revision N-112916 or later
• [youtube] "Invalid data found when processing input" / ffmpeg errors on HDR VP9 in mp4 #7541
  • ffmpeg bug. Upgrade to ffmpeg 7.0.1 or to the latest master build
• --mark-watched fails with urlopen error #8149
  • Disable pi-hole or whitelist s.youtube.com
• Chapter Embedding Results in Unnamed Chapters When Using Recent FFmpeg Builds #6859
  • ffmpeg regression. Use https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds or upgrade to 6.1.1 or newer
• yt-dlp is detected as a virus #25
  • It's a false positive. Complain to your vendor. There is nothing we can do
• Incomplete Data Recieved #1787
  • Broken from Youtube's side. If downloading comments, use -i to ignore the error
• Wrong year in metadata in M4A, MP4, FLAC format #3087
  • Workaround: --parse-metadata "%(release_year,upload_date).4s:(?P<meta_date>.+)"
• pyinstaller temp files are not cleaned up when using yt-dlp.exe with mpv #10294
• Long Start-Up Time for yt-dlp_macos #10425
• --download-sections / ffmpeg fails to seek in a 26+ hour long Twitch m3u8 #5372
• Using proxy and --download-sections/ ffmpeg fails with HTTP Error 400/401/403 #12915

FAQ

See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ

• How to avoid Youtube's new "Super Resolution" AI-upscaled formats #15325
• Getting deno to work in Termux. #15095 (comment)
  • Run a full Termux upgrade with pkg update && pkg upgrade before pkg install deno
• [YouTube] Enhanced bitrate no longer available to download? #14133 (comment)
• Filename too long
  • Use -o "%(title).150B [%(id)s].%(ext)s"
• [YouTube] --write-comments: "Incomplete data received. Giving up after 3 retries" warnings #15435
• twitter: No video could be found in this tweet #14742
• [Question] odd ba* format selection? #979 (comment)
  • Generally do not use ba*
• Fix playlist_index's inconsistent behavior #302
  • Check playlist_autonumber and --compat-option playlist-index
• yt-dlp python module not compiling with pyinstaller #3845
  • Use bundle/pyinstaller.py
• Subtitle file is not deleted after being embedded #630 (comment)
  • Use --compat-option no-keep-subs
• --download-sections/--sponsorblock-remove does not cut at exact point #4216 / YouTube Clip Downloads have unintented extra beginning part with no video #5080
  • Use --force-keyframes-at-cuts
• Duplicating pull request from youtube-dl to yt-dlp #4202
• How to check in browser if the video is DRM protected
• --cookies-from-browser for a chrome/firefox like browser or non-default install location #2903
• What are yt-dlp's error codes? #4262 (comment)
• Extractor option language for crunchyrollbeta #4640
• Ability to strip Emoji from downloaded file  #4836 / File names use "full-width" special characters: '？' vs '?' #5014
• [Youtube] Extract exact timestamps #1803
• [Feature Request] Crop to square thumbnail when embedding in MP3s #429 (comment)
• Download only videos with subtitles
  • --parse-metadata "%(subtitles.\:.0.ext|)s:^(?!\[\])(?P<has_subs>.)" -v --match-filter has_subs
• How do I rename previously-downloaded files with nothing but the youtube video ID? #5692
• Remove specific fields from info-json - [Suggestion] Redact formats in info json with an option #455 (comment)
• About subtitles in mp4 container - Convert webvtt subtitles in mp4 into useable format #5833 (comment)
• Find the API option for a CLI argument #5859 (comment)
  • Use https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/devscripts/cli_to_api.py
• [YouTube] youtube:skip=translated_subs doesn't work for some videos. #3875
• Youtube bestvideo and vp9 preference. #1232 (comment)
• repo: git log broken by SSH signature #7322
• download comments into separate comments.json file #2372 (comment)
• How to force a conversion to a specific video codec? #7607 (comment)
• How to download youtube videos in mp4 format? #8880
• How do I properly pass my Soundcloud oauth token to yt-dlp? #12249 (comment)
• [youtube] 256kbps music formats not being extracted #12455 (comment)
• [PYI-12704:ERROR] Failed to extract Cryptodome\Cipher_ARC4.pyd: decompression resulted in return code -1! #16522
  • You probably don't have enough free disk space on the drive where your temp dir is located

PS: These are just the most common issues at the moment. Make sure to search for duplicates in general before opening issues. Looking at this is not an excuse to not search for other duplicates!