Youtube-dl library and ERROR 403: Forbidden when using generated direct link by youtube-dl from different locations

Question

I have a problem with youtube-dl library (https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/). I use youtube-dl not for directly downloading videos by this library, instead I first generate link using command like this:

youtube-dl --simulate --dump-json --prefer-ffmpeg -- -CmadmM5cOk

I get needed format link from json answer, I use default format 1280x720 mp4. Links look like this "https://r4---sn-nto52nx-px8e.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?lmt=1432339993780507&ip=x.x.x.x&key=yt6&fexp=9408710%2C9409069%2C9413137%2C9415365%2C9415485%2C9416023%2C9416126%2C941...".

Then I use this link to download video from different PC in different locations. For most links it works ok, but there are some videos, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmadmM5cOk, that I can't download from different server or PC, it returns ERROR 403: Forbidden.

So what I tried so far, I have 2 server and my local PC, all 3 of them are located in different countries, USA, England and Ukraine.

For example, I run youtube-dl and get link on Server 1 in the USA, I get link, I can it download in this Sever 1, but on Server 2 in London and my local PC in Ukraine it returns ERROR 403: Forbidden.

Another example, I generate link on Server 2 in London, I get different link, I can download it on the same server, but when I try on Server 1 or my local PC I get the same ERROR 403: Forbidden. The same when I generate link on local PC and try on servers.

This happens only with only some exact videos, but there are a lot of them. Some of videos that returns 403: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09R8_2nJtjg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk.

Thank you, I appreciate any help!

Update:

I'm trying to use suggested by you option "-o -" to output video file to stdout and then I retranslate it to user. But I have another problem, it works if I login with ssh and try command with my user, but it throws 403 error when I launch the same command under "www-data" user. Here is verbose output:

Here is verbose report:

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--prefer-ffmpeg', u'--no-warnings', u'-f', u'22', u'-o', u'-', u'-v', u'--', u'QcIy9NiNbmo']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2015.08.16.1
[debug] Python version 2.7.3 - Linux-4.1.0-x86_64-linode59-x86_64-with-debian-7.8
[debug] exe versions: avconv 0.8.17-6, avprobe 0.8.17-6, ffmpeg 0.8.17-6, ffprobe 0.8.17-6
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] QcIy9NiNbmo: Downloading webpage
[youtube] QcIy9NiNbmo: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] QcIy9NiNbmo: Extracting video information
[youtube] {22} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {43} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {18} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {5} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {36} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {17} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {137} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {248} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {136} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {247} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {135} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {244} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {134} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {243} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {133} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {242} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {160} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {140} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] {171} signature length 40.42, html5 player new
[youtube] QcIy9NiNbmo: Downloading DASH manifest
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r6---sn-q4f7sn7s.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?dur=244.924&ipbits=0&sver=3&expire=1440076742&itag=22&lmt=1432153223392108&ratebypass=yes&fexp=9406010%2C9407118%2C9407156%2C9408710%2C9409069%2C9412515%2C9412774%2C9412779%2C9415365%2C9415485%2C9416023%2C9416126%2C9416326%2C9416916%2C9417707%2C9418153%2C9418449%2C9418954&key=yt5&mime=video%2Fmp4&initcwndbps=19078750&source=youtube&upn=H3j2i1TBZjA&mn=sn-q4f7sn7s&mm=31&pl=32&id=o-ADA7nHOi-VHvDpG35GbK7zvbnjmrppbPKN4PlVS25gcx&requiressl=yes&pcm2=no&ip=2600%3A3c00%3A%3Af03c%3A91ff%3Afe84%3A4cc7&mv=m&sparams=dur%2Cid%2Cinitcwndbps%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Clmt%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cpcm2%2Cpl%2Cratebypass%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mt=1440055050&ms=au&signature=FCB04C87410298BCDA619B8DB06221417292500B.669E8F187A5885C08D057F924A9551A657FF584B'
ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1585, in process_info
    success = dl(filename, info_dict)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1527, in dl
    return fd.download(name, info)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py", line 342, in download
    return self.real_download(filename, info_dict)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py", line 60, in real_download
    data = self.ydl.urlopen(request)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1860, in urlopen
    return self._opener.open(req, timeout=self._socket_timeout)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 407, in open
    response = meth(req, response)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 520, in http_response
    'http', request, response, code, msg, hdrs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 445, in error
    return self._call_chain(*args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 379, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 528, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), code, msg, hdrs, fp)
HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

Alabaster

did you find any solution for this – Pine

Answer 1

Final download URLs are only guaranteed to work on the same machine/IP where extracted. More on this.

UPD: To get rid of 403 remove the cache by running youtube-dl --rm-cache-dir on behalf of www-data.

Drilling

Thank you, I'm trying to implement downloading through server with -o - option, and I have another problem, it works normally under one user, but fails with 403 error under "www-data". I'm updating question. – Alabaster

what did you do to bypass this issue ? – Expunge

As explained in the answer and in this issue entering youtube-dl --rm-cache-dir at the command line fixes it. – Lananna

worked, but after 8 tracks I had the same error 403 again... – Silicosis

it seems like it's caused by the same track rather then by something on the local pc, rather some youtube triggered error – Silicosis

this happened to me right after fresh install (of macOS even). I'm now using this alias: mp3='youtube-dl --rm-cache-dir && youtube-dl -x --audio-quality 0 --audio-format mp3 --no-playlist ' – Noeminoesis

Not working in Ubuntu 22.04 – Worn

how can we by pass/ like i have extraced the url on server with ip 203.132.xx.21 and download the video form a mobile app with ip 141.321.32.21 – Pine

Answer 2

If non of the options above works then simply do:

pip install yt-dlp --upgrade

:)

Brooks

The question is about youtube-dl, not yt-dlp. – Zondra

True. But these packages have similar functionalities, so you should consider switching to yt-dlp as upgrading it will solve the 403 error. – Brooks

this only works – Alcatraz

Answer 3

I, too, was getting the 403 error. Tried clearing cache to no avail.

I added the "-v" switch to see if I could determine why the download was failing and, much to my surprise, the video started downloading.

Go figure. YMMV.

Phidippides

Same with me running on Windows and installed with choco – Phosphatase

Answer 4

For me it worked to use yt-dlp --update once.

Antisepsis

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Stack Overflow community. This question already has quite a few answers—including one that has been extensively validated by the community. Are you certain your approach hasn’t been given previously? If so, it would be useful to explain how your approach is different, under what circumstances your approach might be preferred, and/or why you think the previous answers aren’t sufficient. Can you kindly edit your answer to offer an explanation? – Zondra

I also had to use this same switch for it to work for me. I was using a version from February of 2023 and it upgraded me to a version from July of 2023. – Extragalactic

Answer 5

The accepted answer works perfectly.

If anybody is using yt-dlp instead of youtube-dl, then use yt-dlp --rm-cache-dir and it also works.

Olinger

Answer 6

If dstftw's answer doesn't work for you, try with root: su youtube-dl --rm-cache-dir

Sardinia

If this worked for you, but the same command without su did not, then it means your user profile permissions are broken. Likely you ran youtube-dl as root - there is never a good reason to do this. I recommend you change your cache dir permissions (/home/<USER>/.cache/youtube-dl on Ubuntu) to the permissions of your actual user, recursively. – Vidette

Answer 7

Try to upgrade to the latest version of yt-dlp.

python -m pip install -U yt-dlp

Libau

Answer 8

I tried clearing cache, continued to get 403. Had to add cookies (--cookies cookies.txt). This still required me to occasionally restart.

Chapatti

Answer 9

This command will download the youtube-videos for you

yt-dlp -vU  -f "bv*+ba" put-your-youtube-address-here-guys

Boatman