I cannot download almost any Youtube videos.
Author: SubhutiBottleneckCreated Aug 9, 2026Updated Oct 2, 2026
Labelscant-reproducesite-bugsite:youtube
Checklist
- I've read the NO AI / NO LLM POLICY and understand I may be blocked from the repository if it is violated
- I'm reporting that yt-dlp is broken on a supported site
- I've verified that I have updated yt-dlp to nightly or master (update instructions)
- I've checked that all provided URLs are playable in a browser with the same IP and same login details
- I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
- I've searched known issues, the FAQ, and the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones. DO NOT post duplicates
- I've read about sharing account credentials and I'm willing to share it if required
Region
I am in Denmark, if that's the question?
Provide a description that is worded well enough to be understood
For maybe two weeks - ten days? - I haven't been able to download more than maybe five videos with yt-dlp. I usually download at least ten videos each day (in very low resolution), for my own archiving needs and hoarding instincts. I haven't made a systematic analysis to see if I can see a pattern in which videos I can download and which get rejected, but I don't think there is one. It's both brand new videos as well as some that are some weeks old.
What happens is that it downloads the two English subtitle files as normal, the .json file (if I ask for that), and then.... nothing. It just freezes. Even under debug mode, it doesn't say anything for many seconds.
I finally asked the AI, and it suggested it was to do with cookies, so I added the --cookies-from-browser firefox command, and it worked on the URL I tried it on, so I thought it was solved, but none of the subsequent URLs I tried it on worked. I read in some of the text on this site that it could help to export the cookies as a .txt file.
And the first URL I try it on, it works! I tried it on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSqT9xJCmk for the 360p resolution. I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I tried to get it in the 240p resolution, and it gave me that as well!
So again I thought, "finally!". But it works with none of the other URLs I have.
I also read on this site that it might help to open an incognito window, then login to your Youtube account, and then export the cookies for youtube using the addon called "cookies.txt".
When I tried the --cookies command with this file, it downloaded the subtitles again, and then it began on the video stream as well! But after the first update (it reached "3.5%") it froze just like normal! As if it was fooled into giving me some, but then another process kicked in and determined I shouldn't be allowed anyway.
I can see videos totally fine on the site itself (even though I did feel there was some sluggishness in my internet over the past couple of days, but that seems to have resolved now).
Does anyone have these problems other than me?! I was expecting to see this issues forum overflowing with messages about Youtube no longer working, and I am shocked it isn't the case. Is it after all still something that's wrong on my side?
Can anybody help me?
Provide verbose output that clearly demonstrates the problem
- Run your yt-dlp command with -vU flag added (
yt-dlp -vU <your command line>) - If using API, add
'verbose': TruetoYoutubeDLparams instead - Copy the WHOLE output (starting with
[debug] Command-line config) and insert it below
Complete Verbose Output
[debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', '-f', "(bv[width>=240][height>=204]/bv[height>=240][width>=204])+(ba[language~='en|en-US']/ba)", '-S', '+vbr,+abr', '--embed-metadata', '--write-auto-subs', '--write-subs', '--sub-lang', 'en,en-orig,en-US,en-GB', '--no-mtime', '--progress', '--console-title', '-o', 'C:\\ffmpegout\\youtube\\%(title)s [%(id)s]-%(height)s.%(ext)s', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv6eGe5l8Zg']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version [email protected] from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds [5d6b8c8cd] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.10.11 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.22621-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1t 7 Feb 2023)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-125875-g5d4d3bdc61-20260731 (setts), ffprobe N-125875-g5d4d3bdc61-20260731
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.2.0, certifi-2026.06.17, curl_cffi-0.15.0, mutagen-1.48.1, requests-2.34.2, sqlite3-3.40.1, urllib3-2.7.0, websockets-16.0, yt_dlp_ejs-0.8.0
[debug] JS runtimes: deno-2.5.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets, curl_cffi
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1744 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/latest
Latest version: [email protected] from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds
yt-dlp is up to date ([email protected] from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds)
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[debug] [youtube] [jsc] JS Challenge Providers: bun (unavailable), deno, node (unavailable), quickjs (unavailable)
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv6eGe5l8Zg
[youtube] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player 854a788e
original url = /s/player/854a788e/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Downloading visionos player API JSON
[youtube] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Downloading android vr player API JSON
[youtube] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Downloading m3u8 information
[debug] [youtube] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Detected experiment to bind GVS PO Token to video ID for web client
[debug] [youtube] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Some web client https formats have been skipped as they are missing a URL. YouTube is forcing SABR streaming for this client. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12482 for more details
[info] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Downloading subtitles: en, en-orig
[debug] Sort order given by user: +vbr, +abr
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, +vbr, +abr, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
[info] Uv6eGe5l8Zg: Downloading 1 format(s): 395+249
Deleting existing file C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Norman Finkelstein IN THE BUILDING ｜ Hasanabi Reacts (Full Interview) [Uv6eGe5l8Zg]-240.en.vtt
[info] Writing video subtitles to: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Norman Finkelstein IN THE BUILDING ｜ Hasanabi Reacts (Full Interview) [Uv6eGe5l8Zg]-240.en.vtt
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?v=Uv6eGe5l8Zg&ei=Y0J4atjoIuvS6dsPtpPUiAU&caps=asr&opi=112496729&xoaf=4&xowf=1&xospf=1&hl=en&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=1786291411&sparams=ip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%2Cv%2Cei%2Ccaps%2Copi%2Cxoaf&signature=E15391B0A6C66AE50523C444CEB170A9C21D8D2D.8AD104CB42FFADDF703A1B8ABA9558DCAA17DA6E&key=yt8&kind=asr&lang=en&fmt=vtt"
[debug] File locking is not supported. Proceeding without locking
[download] Destination: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Norman Finkelstein IN THE BUILDING ｜ Hasanabi Reacts (Full Interview) [Uv6eGe5l8Zg]-240.en.vtt
[download] 100% of 1.37MiB in 00:00:00 at 2.28MiB/s
Deleting existing file C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Norman Finkelstein IN THE BUILDING ｜ Hasanabi Reacts (Full Interview) [Uv6eGe5l8Zg]-240.en-orig.vtt
[info] Writing video subtitles to: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Norman Finkelstein IN THE BUILDING ｜ Hasanabi Reacts (Full Interview) [Uv6eGe5l8Zg]-240.en-orig.vtt
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?v=Uv6eGe5l8Zg&ei=Y0J4atjoIuvS6dsPtpPUiAU&caps=asr&opi=112496729&xoaf=4&xowf=1&xospf=1&hl=en&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=1786291411&sparams=ip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%2Cv%2Cei%2Ccaps%2Copi%2Cxoaf&signature=E15391B0A6C66AE50523C444CEB170A9C21D8D2D.8AD104CB42FFADDF703A1B8ABA9558DCAA17DA6E&key=yt8&kind=asr&lang=en&fmt=vtt"
[download] Destination: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Norman Finkelstein IN THE BUILDING ｜ Hasanabi Reacts (Full Interview) [Uv6eGe5l8Zg]-240.en-orig.vtt
[download] 100% of 1.37MiB in 00:00:00 at 2.34MiB/s
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://rr1---sn-uxaxovg-j2iz.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1786287811&ei=Y0J4atjoIuvS6dsPtpPUiAU&ip=85.83.208.12&id=o-AJAU4HdOlHDvIkdXxyVuwEOL9PGstc1waFJT2Gv_4EgG&itag=395&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&xpc=EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D&cps=268&met=1786266211%2C&mh=rN&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-uxaxovg-j2iz%2Csn-5hnekn7l&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=18&rms=au%2Cau&initcwndbps=342500&bui=AZFlqhMMhqZJFzmtxQhlmcR17C7GWU3CxXbmLo0a2ij9hdgQp4FnjxL0J0wikXp6fRmmBLNLZI1bYz3P&spc=KBGBchnF7vnHLO-fU7anHUZg4xMnjFHO18XjsTv8sf3V&vprv=1&svpuc=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&rqh=1&gir=yes&clen=120460493&dur=11952.466&lmt=1785463733213220&mt=1786265812&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&fexp=51565115&c=VISIONOS&txp=3309224&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Cbui%2Cspc%2Cvprv%2Csvpuc%2Cmime%2Crqh%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AE0s2JYwRQIhAM8l66IGPtqPUYaOg8ODa1dCzos1DJqvTUMjAiffnD7aAiA4GHqeICgAFRN20olZ46z-MVWn0Yqyl0HxmnVqc4j9Dw%3D%3D&lsparams=cps%2Cmet%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=APaTxxMwRAIgAIkM4ma0Hm0lhfjNvITAWsbOxQE8lN65X2jsSxwEwioCIEgoUUbPLeyfBrglyBOCZQncm-4ptVOFdILjJShmvpdV"
[download] Resuming download at byte 2096128
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (10/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Giving up after 10 retries
File "__main__.py", line 17, in <module>
File "yt_dlp\__init__.py", line 1080, in main
File "yt_dlp\__init__.py", line 1071, in _real_main
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3715, in download
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3688, in wrapper
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1721, in extract_info
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1732, in wrapper
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1888, in __extract_info
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1947, in process_ie_result
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3135, in process_video_result
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 195, in wrapper
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3571, in process_info
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3324, in dl
File "yt_dlp\downloader\common.py", line 480, in download
File "yt_dlp\downloader\http.py", line 360, in real_download
File "yt_dlp\\\utils\_utils.py", line 5300, in __iter__
File "yt_dlp\downloader\common.py", line 413, in report_retry
File "yt_dlp\\\utils\_utils.py", line 5307, in report_retry
File "yt_dlp\downloader\common.py", line 416, in <lambda>
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1166, in report_error
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1093, in trouble
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://rr1---sn-uxaxovg-j2iz.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1786287811&ei=Y0J4atjoIuvS6dsPtpPUiAU&ip=85.83.208.12&id=o-AJAU4HdOlHDvIkdXxyVuwEOL9PGstc1waFJT2Gv_4EgG&itag=249&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&xpc=EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D&cps=268&met=1786266211%2C&mh=rN&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-uxaxovg-j2iz%2Csn-5hnekn7l&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=18&rms=au%2Cau&initcwndbps=342500&bui=AZFlqhMMhqZJFzmtxQhlmcR17C7GWU3CxXbmLo0a2ij9hdgQp4FnjxL0J0wikXp6fRmmBLNLZI1bYz3P&spc=KBGBchnF7vnHLO-fU7anHUZg4xMnjFHO18XjsTv8sf3V&vprv=1&svpuc=1&mime=audio%2Fwebm&rqh=1&gir=yes&clen=70569748&dur=11952.481&lmt=1785463838575822&mt=1786265812&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&fexp=51565115&c=VISIONOS&txp=3308224&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Cbui%2Cspc%2Cvprv%2Csvpuc%2Cmime%2Crqh%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AE0s2JYwRAIgAJoAatPyHBsM-0u6sOpanIAJudBGi6q4p1Zpm-cfT0UCIEs6kP_ZMH3zO5NHjYX7TLMqS8LxJzGX8JLkj-Hwywcc&lsparams=cps%2Cmet%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=APaTxxMwRAIgAIkM4ma0Hm0lhfjNvITAWsbOxQE8lN65X2jsSxwEwioCIEgoUUbPLeyfBrglyBOCZQncm-4ptVOFdILjJShmvpdV"
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (1/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (2/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (3/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (4/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (5/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (6/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (7/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (8/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (9/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Retrying (10/10)...
[download] Got error: HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable. Giving up after 10 retries
File "__main__.py", line 17, in <module>
File "yt_dlp\__init__.py", line 1080, in main
File "yt_dlp\__init__.py", line 1071, in _real_main
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3715, in download
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3688, in wrapper
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1721, in extract_info
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1732, in wrapper
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1888, in __extract_info
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1947, in process_ie_result
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3135, in process_video_result
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 195, in wrapper
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3571, in process_info
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3324, in dl
File "yt_dlp\downloader\common.py", line 480, in download
File "yt_dlp\downloader\http.py", line 360, in real_download
File "yt_dlp\\\utils\_utils.py", line 5300, in __iter__
File "yt_dlp\downloader\common.py", line 413, in report_retry
File "yt_dlp\\\utils\_utils.py", line 5307, in report_retry
File "yt_dlp\downloader\common.py", line 416, in <lambda>
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1166, in report_error
File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1093, in trouble
In the following, I post the output of the URL it downloaded successfully:
[debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', '-f', "(bv[width>=360][height>=306]/bv[height>=360][width>=306])+(ba[language~='en|en-US']/ba)", '-S', '+vbr,+abr', '--embed-metadata', '--write-auto-subs', '--write-subs', '--sub-lang', 'en,en-orig,en-US,en-GB', '--no-mtime', '--progress', '--cookies', 'C:\\ffmpegout\\youtube\\cookies.txt', '--console-title', '-o', 'C:\\ffmpegout\\youtube\\%(title)s [%(id)s]-%(height)s.%(ext)s', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSqT9xJCmk']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version [email protected] from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds [5d6b8c8cd] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.10.11 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.22621-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1t 7 Feb 2023)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-125875-g5d4d3bdc61-20260731 (setts), ffprobe N-125875-g5d4d3bdc61-20260731
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.2.0, certifi-2026.06.17, curl_cffi-0.15.0, mutagen-1.48.1, requests-2.34.2, sqlite3-3.40.1, urllib3-2.7.0, websockets-16.0, yt_dlp_ejs-0.8.0
[debug] JS runtimes: deno-2.5.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets, curl_cffi
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1744 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/latest
Latest version: [email protected] from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds
yt-dlp is up to date ([email protected] from yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds)
[debug] [youtube] Found YouTube account cookies
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[debug] [youtube] [jsc] JS Challenge Providers: bun (unavailable), deno, node (unavailable), quickjs (unavailable)
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSqT9xJCmk
[youtube] pFSqT9xJCmk: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player 854a788e
original url = /s/player/854a788e/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] pFSqT9xJCmk: Downloading tv downgraded player API JSON
[youtube] pFSqT9xJCmk: Downloading player 854a788e-main
[youtube] [jsc:deno] Solving JS challenges using deno
[debug] [youtube] [jsc:deno] Using challenge solver lib script v0.8.0 (source: python package, variant: minified)
[debug] [youtube] [jsc:deno] Using challenge solver core script v0.8.0 (source: python package, variant: minified)
[debug] [youtube] [jsc:deno] Running deno: 'C:\apps\yt-dlp_win\deno.EXE' run --ext=js --no-code-cache --no-prompt --no-remote --no-lock --node-modules-dir=none --no-config --no-npm --cached-only -
[info] pFSqT9xJCmk: Downloading subtitles: en, en-orig
[debug] Sort order given by user: +vbr, +abr
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, +vbr, +abr, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
[info] pFSqT9xJCmk: Downloading 1 format(s): 134+249-0
Deleting existing file C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Incredible Ancient Things that We Have Recently Translated [pFSqT9xJCmk]-360.en.vtt
[info] Writing video subtitles to: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Incredible Ancient Things that We Have Recently Translated [pFSqT9xJCmk]-360.en.vtt
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?v=pFSqT9xJCmk&ei=VEF4at23Bue46dsPwfSN8A4&caps=asr&opi=112496729&xoaf=5&xowf=1&xospf=1&hl=en&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=1786291140&sparams=ip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%2Cv%2Cei%2Ccaps%2Copi%2Cxoaf&signature=C5718AC6D79EEB5423E00E59F565DCACA258B89F.6A8B6D300E7CBFC8866F1C24214DDA48D941A7BD&key=yt8&kind=asr&lang=en&fmt=vtt"
[debug] File locking is not supported. Proceeding without locking
[download] Destination: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Incredible Ancient Things that We Have Recently Translated [pFSqT9xJCmk]-360.en.vtt
[download] 100% of 444.62KiB in 00:00:00 at 1.21MiB/s
Deleting existing file C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Incredible Ancient Things that We Have Recently Translated [pFSqT9xJCmk]-360.en-orig.vtt
[info] Writing video subtitles to: C:\ffmpegout\youtube\Incredible Ancient Things that We Have Recently Translated [pFSqT9xJCmk]-360.en-orig.vtt
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?v=pFSqT9xJCmk&ei=VEF4at23Bue46dsPwfSN8A4&caps=asr&opi=112496729&xoaf=5&xowf=1&xospf=1&hl=en&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=1786291140&sparams=ip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%2Cv%2Cei%2Ccaps%2Copi%2Cxoaf&signature=C5718AC6D79EEB5423E00E59F565DCACA2Source: yt-dlp/yt-dlp