yt-dlp Errors: Every Failure Message, Diagnosed and Fixed
Every yt-dlp error worth a page of its own, grouped by what actually went wrong rather than by the words in the message.
16 pages, each tested against yt-dlp 2026.07.28.
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Fix "HTTP Error 403: Forbidden" in yt-dlp
ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 403: ForbiddenA 403 from yt-dlp almost never means you are blocked. It means the download URL expired between extraction and fetch. Five fixes in the order worth trying, starting with the one-word one.
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Fix "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" in yt-dlp
ERROR: Sign in to confirm you're not a bot. Use --cookies-from-browser or --cookies for the authentication.YouTube asks yt-dlp to prove it is human when the request looks like a datacentre. Why cookies alone stopped working, what actually clears it in 2026, and the mistake that gets your account flagged.
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Fix "PO Token required" and Missing Formats in yt-dlp
WARNING: [youtube] Some web client https formats have been skipped as they are missing a url. YouTube is forcing SABR streaming for this client.PO tokens are YouTube's proof-of-origin check, and without one yt-dlp silently loses every high-quality format. What a PO token is, which clients need one, and three ways to supply it.
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Fix "HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests" in yt-dlp
ERROR: Unable to download API page: HTTP Error 429: Too Many RequestsA 429 is a rate limit with a timer attached, and retrying immediately restarts it. How long the block actually lasts, the four flags that keep you under the threshold, and why a VPN often makes it worse.
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Fix "nsig extraction failed" and 50 KiB/s Downloads in yt-dlp
WARNING: [youtube] nsig extraction failed: Some formats may be missingThe nsig warning is why your download crawls at dial-up speed instead of failing outright. What the n-parameter does, why an update fixes it more often than any flag, and what to do when there is no update yet.
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Fix "Requested format is not available" in yt-dlp
ERROR: Requested format is not available. Use --list-formats for a list of available formatsThis error means your format selector matched nothing — not that the video is unavailable. How to read what -F actually offers, why bestvideo+bestaudio fails on some sites, and the fallback syntax that never errors.
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Fix "ffmpeg not found" and "You have requested merging" in yt-dlp
ERROR: You have requested merging of multiple formats but ffmpeg is not installed. Aborting due to --abort-on-erroryt-dlp downloads video and audio separately and needs ffmpeg to join them. How to install it on each OS, why "it is installed" and "yt-dlp can see it" are different problems, and the flag that skips the search.
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Fix "Postprocessing: ffmpeg exited with code 1" in yt-dlp
ERROR: Postprocessing: Error opening output file. Conversion failed! ffmpeg exited with code 1The download finished and the conversion failed — so the fix is never in yt-dlp's flags. How to read the ffmpeg error underneath, the four causes that account for almost all of them, and how to retry without downloading again.
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Fix "CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED" in yt-dlp
ERROR: unable to download webpage: <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate>An SSL failure in yt-dlp is almost always local: an old certificate store, a corporate proxy, or a system clock that drifted. How to tell which, and why --no-check-certificate is the wrong fix for two of the three.
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Fix "Could not copy Chrome cookie database" in yt-dlp
ERROR: Could not copy Chrome cookie database. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/7271 for more infoChrome locks its cookie file while it is running, and on newer versions encrypts it so only Chrome can read it. Three ways to get your cookies out, ranked by how long they keep working.
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Fix "Permission denied" Reading Browser Cookies in yt-dlp
ERROR: unable to open cookie file: PermissionError(13, 'Permission denied')The cookie file exists and yt-dlp still cannot open it: keyring prompts on Linux, Keychain on macOS, and file locks on Windows each fail differently. The fix for each, with the command to confirm it worked.
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Fix "Video unavailable" in yt-dlp
ERROR: [youtube] dQw4w9WgXcQ: Video unavailableSix different situations print the same two words. How to tell a geo-block from a takedown from a broken extractor in one command, and which of the six you can actually work around.
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Fix "Private video: Sign in if you've been granted access" in yt-dlp
ERROR: [youtube] Private video. Sign in if you've been granted access to this videoyt-dlp can download a private video if your account can see it — the trick is handing over the right session. Which cookie export works, why an incognito export fails, and how to check access before you script it.
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Fix "Sign in to confirm your age" in yt-dlp
ERROR: [youtube] Sign in to confirm your age. This video may be inappropriate for some users.Age gates changed in 2025 and most of the advice online predates it. What still works for age-restricted videos, what was removed from yt-dlp, and how to tell an age gate from a bot check when both ask you to sign in.
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Fix "Unable to extract player response" in yt-dlp
ERROR: [youtube] Unable to extract player response; please report this issue on https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issuesThis one is not your fault: the site changed its page and the extractor has not caught up. How to confirm that in thirty seconds, how to get the fix hours instead of weeks early, and what to do meanwhile.
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Why yt-dlp Only Downloads 360p — and How to Get 1080p or 4K
yt-dlp downloads 360p instead of 1080p or 4Kyt-dlp defaulting to 360p is a symptom, not a setting. The four causes — no ffmpeg, a PO token gate, a wrong format selector, a stale build — and the one command that tells you which one you have.
Related
- Fix "HTTP Error 403: Forbidden" in yt-dlp A 403 from yt-dlp almost never means you are blocked. It means the download URL expired between extraction and...
- Fix "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" in yt-dlp YouTube asks yt-dlp to prove it is human when the request looks like a datacentre. Why cookies alone stopped w...
- Fix "PO Token required" and Missing Formats in yt-dlp PO tokens are YouTube's proof-of-origin check, and without one yt-dlp silently loses every high-quality format...