#33244 [YouTube] HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

Checklist

I'm reporting a broken site support
I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2025.11.26
I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser
I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
I've searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones
Verbose log

 ./youtube-dl -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqnVMF6QiRc
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: ['--console-title', '--rm-cache-dir', '-i', '-o', '/dev/shm/test-ytd/%(title)s.%(ext)s', '-f', 'bestvideo[height<=1080][ext=mp4][vcodec^=avc]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best', '--no-mtime', '--embed-thumbnail', '--force-ipv4']
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-v', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqnVMF6QiRc']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2025.11.26 [956b8c585] (single file build)
[debug] ** This version was built from the latest master code at https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl.
[debug] ** For support, visit the main site.
[debug] Python 3.10.12 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - Linux-5.15.0-164-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.35 - OpenSSL 3.0.2 15 Mar 2022 - glibc 2.35
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-122567-gf4ca7950d8-Nico-20260128, ffprobe N-122567-gf4ca7950d8-Nico-20260128, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
Removing cache dir /home/nico/.cache/youtube-dl ..
[youtube] eqnVMF6QiRc: Downloading webpage
[youtube] eqnVMF6QiRc: Downloading ANDROID API JSON
[youtube] eqnVMF6QiRc: Downloading thumbnail ...
[youtube] eqnVMF6QiRc: Writing thumbnail to: /dev/shm/test-ytd/Massive coastal landslide causes houses to collapse in Sicily.jpg
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://rr1---sn-5hneknes.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1769702594&ei=YjB7aYu6CtTj6dsPg6GJyQw&ip=<REDACTED>&id=o-AOH1nX97bHiOq_JNsKkFf32LzsYQtkZ379GX5_Y_i9Rp&itag=137&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&xpc=EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D&cps=827&met=1769680994%2C&mh=Ea&mm=31%2C26&mn=sn-5hneknes%2Csn-4g5edndy&ms=au%2Conr&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=16&rms=au%2Cau&initcwndbps=4255000&bui=AW-iu_rasy-LKiubq8abucACRT6hCW4UdvIaev_nBm_fSbGjGbKGCK0v1ZZwrVhBrj7NQu5fcDbUx8vC&spc=q5xjPLyhDLib31aW0JcuCbgH_1T41sLNDiKcPVUdsWEddW7YevZFK6lkldCudJT_&vprv=1&svpuc=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&rqh=1&gir=yes&clen=38263504&dur=134.640&lmt=1769495590689179&mt=1769680478&fvip=3&keepalive=yes&fexp=51552689%2C51565115%2C51565681%2C51580968&c=ANDROID&txp=5432534&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Cbui%2Cspc%2Cvprv%2Csvpuc%2Cmime%2Crqh%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AJEij0EwRQIhAI3z62ItuDTJfJfjrdEK7CWWS4YRCttfqvxSoUuGlGevAiAfZjAJ8MySICpjK_Qa89D4fyz8nMfstKVpMWIp7GDnQQ%3D%3D&lsparams=cps%2Cmet%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=APaTxxMwRQIhAIF0vXIjKP4vJp9v3DE8peIYXiz6oDpPIBJt7xEombiOAiAzxKSFE4Zijlzzd8QhEyf1N5H1K5EVnpUCclE-M1bXqA%3D%3D'
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 4
[download] Destination: /dev/shm/test-ytd/Massive coastal landslide causes houses to collapse in Sicily.f137.mp4
[download]  25.0% of ~40.00MiB at  8.03MiB/s ETA 00:03[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 1 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 2 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 3 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 4 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 5 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 6 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 7 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 8 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 9 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 2 (attempt 10 of 10)...
[download] Skipping fragment 2...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 1 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 2 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 3 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 4 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 5 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 6 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 7 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 8 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 9 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 3 (attempt 10 of 10)...
[download] Skipping fragment 3...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 1 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 2 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 3 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 4 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 5 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 6 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 7 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 8 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 9 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 4 (attempt 10 of 10)...
[download] Skipping fragment 4...
[download] 100% of 10.00MiB in 00:03
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://rr1---sn-5hneknes.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1769702594&ei=YjB7aYu6CtTj6dsPg6GJyQw&ip=<REDACTED>&id=o-AOH1nX97bHiOq_JNsKkFf32LzsYQtkZ379GX5_Y_i9Rp&itag=140&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&xpc=EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D&cps=827&met=1769680994%2C&mh=Ea&mm=31%2C26&mn=sn-5hneknes%2Csn-4g5edndy&ms=au%2Conr&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=16&rms=au%2Cau&initcwndbps=4255000&bui=AW-iu_rasy-LKiubq8abucACRT6hCW4UdvIaev_nBm_fSbGjGbKGCK0v1ZZwrVhBrj7NQu5fcDbUx8vC&spc=q5xjPLyhDLib31aW0JcuCbgH_1T41sLNDiKcPVUdsWEddW7YevZFK6lkldCudJT_&vprv=1&svpuc=1&xtags=drc%3D1&mime=audio%2Fmp4&rqh=1&gir=yes&clen=2181135&dur=134.698&lmt=1769495100484154&mt=1769680478&fvip=3&keepalive=yes&fexp=51552689%2C51565115%2C51565681%2C51580968&c=ANDROID&txp=5432534&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Cbui%2Cspc%2Cvprv%2Csvpuc%2Cxtags%2Cmime%2Crqh%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AJEij0EwRgIhAJPyCbL9NmWi44F18jIB8odfwTiaB3TPbAl8tIoaiSMBAiEA6CR5RSXs8mzHpVWMN2XtgkJ-KdlbKZdKabn7GkibjG4%3D&lsparams=cps%2Cmet%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=APaTxxMwRQIhAIF0vXIjKP4vJp9v3DE8peIYXiz6oDpPIBJt7xEombiOAiAzxKSFE4Zijlzzd8QhEyf1N5H1K5EVnpUCclE-M1bXqA%3D%3D'
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 1
[download] Destination: /dev/shm/test-ytd/Massive coastal landslide causes houses to collapse in Sicily.m4a.f140-drc.m4a
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 1 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 2 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 3 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 4 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 5 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 6 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 7 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 8 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 9 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 10 of 10)...
ERROR: giving up after 10 fragment retries
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/runpy.py", line 196, in _run_module_as_main
    return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/runpy.py", line 86, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/__main__.py", line 19, in <module>
    youtube_dl.main()
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/__init__.py", line 479, in main
    _real_main(argv)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/__init__.py", line 469, in _real_main
    retcode = ydl.download(all_urls)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2264, in download
    res = self.extract_info(
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 879, in extract_info
    return self.__extract_info(url, ie, download, extra_info, process)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 886, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 993, in __extract_info
    return self.process_ie_result(ie_result, download, extra_info)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1027, in process_ie_result
    return self.process_video_result(ie_result, download=download)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1871, in process_video_result
    self.process_info(new_info)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 142, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2163, in process_info
    partial_success = dl(fname, new_info)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2099, in dl
    return fd.download(name, new_info)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py", line 394, in download
    return self.real_download(filename, info_dict)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/dash.py", line 78, in real_download
    self.report_error('giving up after %s fragment retries' % count)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py", line 176, in report_error
    self.ydl.report_error(*args, **kargs)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 679, in report_error
    self.trouble(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/nico/Bureaublad/./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 638, in trouble
    tb_data = traceback.format_list(traceback.extract_stack())
Description

This started recently for me and may be related to the recent changes from YouTube regarding the Android client. See the latest commit from yt-dlp.