yt-dlp not downloading youtube but others are ok

[sofasurfer]

Been using yt-dlp for a long time. Now youtube vids are not downloading. This is what I get...

$ vidl
enter url: https://youtu.be/LkokN_wO7W     
bash: cd: Downloads: No such file or directory<
[generic] Extracting URL: https://youtu.be/LkokN_wO7W
[generic] LkokN_wO7W: Downloading webpage
[redirect] Following redirect to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkokN_wO7W&feature=youtu.be
[generic] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkokN_wO7W&feature=youtu.be
[generic] watch?v=LkokN_wO7W&feature=youtu: Downloading webpage
WARNING: [generic] Falling back on generic information extractor
[generic] watch?v=LkokN_wO7W&feature=youtu: Extracting information
ERROR: Unsupported URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkokN_wO7W&feature=youtu.be

Entering <sudo apt install yt-dlp> show version 2024.04.09-1 is install and is the latest version although a search shows that there is a newer version from 2025. I have ffmpeg installed.
Any ideas?

 

[osprey]

It's nearly always more useful to use the latest version of yt-dlp because google is in relatively constant adjustment of its youtube website trying to do things like combat the ad blockers, and so all the relevant free and open source software developers need to respond to the new states as they occur. If you can install the latest version, I think that's the best first option and see how that goes.

I assume your command: vidl, is an alias for yt-dlp.

 

[Condobloke]

On Linux Mint 22.1, the version in the Software Manager is:

2025.01.26-1~ppa~noble

I had 'dramas' with that, and so I use :

video-downloader
version: 0.12.10-2
....which is also from Linux Mints Software Manager, and also its homepage :

GitHub - Unrud/video-downloader: Download videos from websites like YouTube and many others (based on yt-dlp)

Download videos from websites like YouTube and many others (based on yt-dlp) - Unrud/video-downloader

github.com

I find video-downloader works first time, every time

 

[ron.alan]

Latest version is 2025.02.19. I install it via the terminal by first:

sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Then:

sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

You need to completely remove the repo version before doing this I believe, or something will get messed up.

 

[sofasurfer]

Yes, <vidl> is an alias.
I did <sudo apt remove yt-dlp> and then I did as ron.alan suggested and here is my result...

$ sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

--2025-03-21 20:46:16--  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp
Resolving github.com (github.com)... 140.82.112.4
Connecting to github.com (github.com)|140.82.112.4|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/download/2025.03.21/yt-dlp [following]
--2025-03-21 20:46:16--  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/download/2025.03.21/yt-dlp
Reusing existing connection to github.com:443.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://objects.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset-2e65be/307260205/909b06e4-a6cd-45bc-b166-f493d8a7be33?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=releaseassetproduction%2F20250322%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250322T004616Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=9ad636961a43ef3341c5ffb02fe05a76f0b1f867bb2c19b00fa9d833bd9fa40b&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dyt-dlp&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream [following]
--2025-03-21 20:46:16--  https://objects.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset-2e65be/307260205/909b06e4-a6cd-45bc-b166-f493d8a7be33?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=releaseassetproduction%2F20250322%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250322T004616Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=9ad636961a43ef3341c5ffb02fe05a76f0b1f867bb2c19b00fa9d833bd9fa40b&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dyt-dlp&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream
Resolving objects.githubusercontent.com (objects.githubusercontent.com)... 185.199.111.133, 185.199.108.133, 185.199.109.133, ...
Connecting to objects.githubusercontent.com (objects.githubusercontent.com)|185.199.111.133|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3055046 (2.9M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘/usr/local/bin/yt-dlp’

/usr/local/bin/yt-d 100%[===================>]   2.91M  --.-KB/s    in 0.1s    

2025-03-21 20:46:17 (20.1 MB/s) - ‘/usr/local/bin/yt-dlp’ saved [3055046/3055046]

Followed by...

$ sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Heres the result...

$ vidl
enter url: https://youtu.be/LkokN_wO7W8
bash: cd: Downloads: No such file or directory
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/daryl/.local/bin/yt-dlp", line 5, in <module>
    from yt_dlp import main
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'yt_dlp'

 

[ron.alan]

sudo apt remove yt-dlp

I think you should have done a "sudo apt purge yt-dlp"

 

[sofasurfer]

I think you should have done a "sudo apt purge yt-dlp"

Yes, I just tried that and it told me that yt-dlp is not installed and that I needed to use <sudo apt autoremove> for some Python removal.

Now, is the < sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp> to install yt-dlp from github instead of from the repos?

 

[Condobloke]

Youtube = google ......may well be the clue

 

[sofasurfer]

Now, is the < sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp> to install yt-dlp from github instead of from the repos?

I ran the above command which downloaded the yt-dlp but I do not know what to do with it now. I have never use github before.

 

[Condobloke]

Not answering your question from post #9 ^^^

But, I have the below in my notes. Note it is marked for Linux Mint. I do not know which distro you run,

In Linux Mint

This downloads videos from youtube

1. First, make sure you have the python3-pip package installed on your system. You can install this package by running the following command:

Code:
sudo apt install python3-pip

2. Once python3-pip is installed, you can use it to install yt-dlp. Run the following command to install yt-dlp:

Code:
sudo pip3 install yt-dlp

3. Verify that yt-dlp has been installed by running the following command:

Code:
yt-dlp --version

This should print the version number of yt-dlp that you just installed.

 

[osprey]

I ran the above command which downloaded the yt-dlp but I do not know what to do with it now. I have never use github before.

Since you have run that command mentioned in post #9, the following is all you need to do. This has been tested here, and it works flawlessly here:

Run the following command to check that yt-dlp is there in the directory:

ls /usr/local/bin

If it's there, make it executable, as root, or with sudo, e.g.:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Check the permissions:

ls -al /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

which should show:
-rwxr-xr-x <some_user_size_time_info>.... yt-dlp

Then the yt-dlp command is ready to work. For example, in your home directory run:

yt-dlp <some_URL>

and it should download the video denoted by that URL.

If by chance it doesn't work, show the output of:

echo $PATH

and any error output on screen.

 

[bob466]

I use Video Downloader...very easy to use.

 

[ron.alan]

New yt-dlp version yesterday: 2025.03.21

 

[ML_113]

Any ideas?

sudo yt-dlp -U

 

[909mjolnir]

i hadn't ever had any luck in the past with yt downloaders, but i decided to try yt-dlp after reading this thread. on my Manjaro system, it's working just fine. i just used the default syntax.

i'm just describing the experience here in case it helps anybody out.

i make sure the link i copy is just to one video, not a playlist and the algorithm seems to do the rest.
when it's all done, i end up with a webm (matroska) file in my home directory.

i started using the -k switch as per the comment to save the intermediate files. so there's three files: 1 audio, 1 video, and 1 with both mixed together.

so i rename the audio-only webm to *.mka (matroska audio), and check the contents with mkvtoolnix.
everything seems to work out just fine. there's an OPUS audio track inside and that's what I wanted.
if i want to keep the full video, it's there too in the same folder with a different name.

granted, there's not always going to be an opus file there, but i don't mind.

I'm on Manjaro XFCE/MATE Linux

sorry if this is too tangential.

 

[GatorsFan]

To install yt-dlp

sudo apt update

To install and update run

sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp # Make executable

to update

yt-dlp -U

Usage

yt-dlp -F then paste in website

this will check the versions available

yt-dlp --force-generic -S "res:360" paste in web site

this will force a specific version download in this case 360p - if you want 720p just change the 360 to 720