youtube: -f "bestvideo+bestaudio" gets two video links, no audio on some Vids #20296

Closed
opened 2026-02-21 11:07:54 -05:00 by deekerman · 5 comments
Owner

Originally created by @Isayso on GitHub (May 2, 2020).

Checklist

  • [x ] I'm reporting a broken site support
  • [ x] I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2020.05.03
  • [ x] I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser
  • [ x] I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
  • [ x] I've searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

Verbose log

C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC>youtube-dl -f "bestvideo+bestaudio" -g "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8" --verbose
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-f', 'bestvideo+bestaudio', '-g', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8', '--verbose']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs mbcs, out cp850, pref cp1252
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.05.03
[debug] Python version 3.4.4 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.18362
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-94911-g197985c5bf, ffprobe N-94911-g197985c5bf
[debug] Proxy map: {}
https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/dash/expire/1588481653/ei/FfqtXt2fJdCigAfSy62oDA/ip/92.116.24.8/id/64ad8cab0b5c421f/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/playback_host/r2---sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs.googlevideo.com/mh/fb/mm/31%2C26/mn/sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs%2Csn-5hne6nsy/ms/au%2Conr/mv/m/mvi/1/pl/20/hfr/all/as/fmp4_audio_clear%2Cwebm_audio_clear%2Cwebm2_audio_clear%2Cfmp4_sd_hd_clear%2Cwebm2_sd_hd_clear/initcwndbps/1466250/vprv/1/mt/1588459962/fvip/2/keepalive/yes/itag/0/sparams/expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Chfr%2Cas%2Cvprv%2Citag/sig/AJpPlLswRQIgBXdmiLezZfNRNbQtRgaWO4i0zAGa37zUS88RsaSa154CIQDQ4gROcR3dGvpKA6VC4P9KAbLfwm2RcJxS6WGEJi1sQg%3D%3D/lsparams/playback_host%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps/lsig/ALrAebAwRQIhAN437LMzMoj-U1GwsewsOVySxhYyhEJHFS9ZJRqrw5BkAiAKLl0EzhquRahcNk4t_dh8oPhRLLecSULYZ4iez2Mhpw%3D%3D
https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/dash/expire/1588481653/ei/FfqtXt2fJdCigAfSy62oDA/ip/92.116.24.8/id/64ad8cab0b5c421f/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/playback_host/r2---sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs.googlevideo.com/mh/fb/mm/31%2C26/mn/sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs%2Csn-5hne6nsy/ms/au%2Conr/mv/m/mvi/1/pl/20/hfr/all/as/fmp4_audio_clear%2Cwebm_audio_clear%2Cwebm2_audio_clear%2Cfmp4_sd_hd_clear%2Cwebm2_sd_hd_clear/initcwndbps/1466250/vprv/1/mt/1588459962/fvip/2/keepalive/yes/itag/0/sparams/expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Chfr%2Cas%2Cvprv%2Citag/sig/AJpPlLswRQIgBXdmiLezZfNRNbQtRgaWO4i0zAGa37zUS88RsaSa154CIQDQ4gROcR3dGvpKA6VC4P9KAbLfwm2RcJxS6WGEJi1sQg%3D%3D/lsparams/playback_host%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps/lsig/ALrAebAwRQIhAN437LMzMoj-U1GwsewsOVySxhYyhEJHFS9ZJRqrw5BkAiAKLl0EzhquRahcNk4t_dh8oPhRLLecSULYZ4iez2Mhpw%3D%3D

C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC>

C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC>youtube-dl -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8" -v
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-F', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8', '-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs mbcs, out cp850, pref cp1252
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.05.03
[debug] Python version 3.4.4 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.18362
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-94911-g197985c5bf, ffprobe N-94911-g197985c5bf
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] ZK2MqwtcQh8: Downloading webpage
[youtube] {18} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {137} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {248} signature length 100, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {136} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {247} signature length 100, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {135} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {244} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {134} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {243} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {133} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {242} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {160} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {278} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {140} signature length 100, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] {251} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9
[youtube] ZK2MqwtcQh8: Downloading MPD manifest
[info] Available formats for ZK2MqwtcQh8:
format code  extension  resolution note
139          m4a        audio only DASH audio   49k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.5@ 48k (22050Hz)
140          m4a        audio only DASH audio  130k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k (44100Hz)
251          webm       audio only DASH audio  144k , webm_dash container, opus @160k (48000Hz)
278          webm       256x144    DASH video   95k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only
160          mp4        256x144    DASH video  108k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400b, 30fps, video only
242          webm       426x240    DASH video  220k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only
133          mp4        426x240    DASH video  242k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400c, 30fps, video only
243          webm       640x360    DASH video  405k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only
134          mp4        640x360    DASH video  544k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e, 30fps, video only
244          webm       854x480    DASH video  752k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only
135          mp4        854x480    DASH video 1155k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4014, 30fps, video only
247          webm       1280x720   DASH video 1505k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only
136          mp4        1280x720   DASH video 2310k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4016, 30fps, video only
248          webm       1920x1080  DASH video 2646k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only
137          mp4        1920x1080  DASH video 4437k , mp4_dash container, avc1.640028, 30fps, video only
18           mp4        640x360    360p  380k , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k (44100Hz), 13.76MiB (best)

Description

I use youtube-dl to get the video and audio DASH links from YouTube to play them in vlc. On some (!) videos the -f option gets only the video link for video and audio. Seems to be more frequent on newer YouTube videos.

Originally created by @Isayso on GitHub (May 2, 2020). <!-- ###################################################################### WARNING! IGNORING THE FOLLOWING TEMPLATE WILL RESULT IN ISSUE CLOSED AS INCOMPLETE ###################################################################### --> ## Checklist <!-- Carefully read and work through this check list in order to prevent the most common mistakes and misuse of youtube-dl: - First of, make sure you are using the latest version of youtube-dl. Run `youtube-dl --version` and ensure your version is 2020.05.03. If it's not, see https://yt-dl.org/update on how to update. Issues with outdated version will be REJECTED. - Make sure that all provided video/audio/playlist URLs (if any) are alive and playable in a browser. - Make sure that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped as explained in http://yt-dl.org/escape. - Search the bugtracker for similar issues: http://yt-dl.org/search-issues. DO NOT post duplicates. - Finally, put x into all relevant boxes (like this [x]) --> - [x ] I'm reporting a broken site support - [ x] I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version **2020.05.03** - [ x] I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser - [ x] I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped - [ x] I've searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones ## Verbose log <!-- Provide the complete verbose output of youtube-dl that clearly demonstrates the problem. Add the `-v` flag to your command line you run youtube-dl with (`youtube-dl -v <your command line>`), copy the WHOLE output and insert it below. It should look similar to this: [debug] System config: [] [debug] User config: [] [debug] Command-line args: [u'-v', u'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKcj'] [debug] Encodings: locale cp1251, fs mbcs, out cp866, pref cp1251 [debug] youtube-dl version 2020.05.03 [debug] Python version 2.7.11 - Windows-2003Server-5.2.3790-SP2 [debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-75573-g1d0487f, ffprobe N-75573-g1d0487f, rtmpdump 2.4 [debug] Proxy map: {} <more lines> --> ``` C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC>youtube-dl -f "bestvideo+bestaudio" -g "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8" --verbose [debug] System config: [] [debug] User config: [] [debug] Custom config: [] [debug] Command-line args: ['-f', 'bestvideo+bestaudio', '-g', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8', '--verbose'] [debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs mbcs, out cp850, pref cp1252 [debug] youtube-dl version 2020.05.03 [debug] Python version 3.4.4 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.18362 [debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-94911-g197985c5bf, ffprobe N-94911-g197985c5bf [debug] Proxy map: {} https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/dash/expire/1588481653/ei/FfqtXt2fJdCigAfSy62oDA/ip/92.116.24.8/id/64ad8cab0b5c421f/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/playback_host/r2---sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs.googlevideo.com/mh/fb/mm/31%2C26/mn/sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs%2Csn-5hne6nsy/ms/au%2Conr/mv/m/mvi/1/pl/20/hfr/all/as/fmp4_audio_clear%2Cwebm_audio_clear%2Cwebm2_audio_clear%2Cfmp4_sd_hd_clear%2Cwebm2_sd_hd_clear/initcwndbps/1466250/vprv/1/mt/1588459962/fvip/2/keepalive/yes/itag/0/sparams/expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Chfr%2Cas%2Cvprv%2Citag/sig/AJpPlLswRQIgBXdmiLezZfNRNbQtRgaWO4i0zAGa37zUS88RsaSa154CIQDQ4gROcR3dGvpKA6VC4P9KAbLfwm2RcJxS6WGEJi1sQg%3D%3D/lsparams/playback_host%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps/lsig/ALrAebAwRQIhAN437LMzMoj-U1GwsewsOVySxhYyhEJHFS9ZJRqrw5BkAiAKLl0EzhquRahcNk4t_dh8oPhRLLecSULYZ4iez2Mhpw%3D%3D https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/dash/expire/1588481653/ei/FfqtXt2fJdCigAfSy62oDA/ip/92.116.24.8/id/64ad8cab0b5c421f/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/playback_host/r2---sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs.googlevideo.com/mh/fb/mm/31%2C26/mn/sn-8xgn5uxa-quhs%2Csn-5hne6nsy/ms/au%2Conr/mv/m/mvi/1/pl/20/hfr/all/as/fmp4_audio_clear%2Cwebm_audio_clear%2Cwebm2_audio_clear%2Cfmp4_sd_hd_clear%2Cwebm2_sd_hd_clear/initcwndbps/1466250/vprv/1/mt/1588459962/fvip/2/keepalive/yes/itag/0/sparams/expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Chfr%2Cas%2Cvprv%2Citag/sig/AJpPlLswRQIgBXdmiLezZfNRNbQtRgaWO4i0zAGa37zUS88RsaSa154CIQDQ4gROcR3dGvpKA6VC4P9KAbLfwm2RcJxS6WGEJi1sQg%3D%3D/lsparams/playback_host%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps/lsig/ALrAebAwRQIhAN437LMzMoj-U1GwsewsOVySxhYyhEJHFS9ZJRqrw5BkAiAKLl0EzhquRahcNk4t_dh8oPhRLLecSULYZ4iez2Mhpw%3D%3D C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC> C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC>youtube-dl -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8" -v [debug] System config: [] [debug] User config: [] [debug] Custom config: [] [debug] Command-line args: ['-F', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2MqwtcQh8', '-v'] [debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs mbcs, out cp850, pref cp1252 [debug] youtube-dl version 2020.05.03 [debug] Python version 3.4.4 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.18362 [debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-94911-g197985c5bf, ffprobe N-94911-g197985c5bf [debug] Proxy map: {} [youtube] ZK2MqwtcQh8: Downloading webpage [youtube] {18} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {137} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {248} signature length 100, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {136} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {247} signature length 100, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {135} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {244} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {134} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {243} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {133} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {242} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {160} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {278} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {140} signature length 100, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] {251} signature length 104, html5 player 64dddad9 [youtube] ZK2MqwtcQh8: Downloading MPD manifest [info] Available formats for ZK2MqwtcQh8: format code extension resolution note 139 m4a audio only DASH audio 49k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.5@ 48k (22050Hz) 140 m4a audio only DASH audio 130k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k (44100Hz) 251 webm audio only DASH audio 144k , webm_dash container, opus @160k (48000Hz) 278 webm 256x144 DASH video 95k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only 160 mp4 256x144 DASH video 108k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400b, 30fps, video only 242 webm 426x240 DASH video 220k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only 133 mp4 426x240 DASH video 242k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400c, 30fps, video only 243 webm 640x360 DASH video 405k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only 134 mp4 640x360 DASH video 544k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e, 30fps, video only 244 webm 854x480 DASH video 752k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only 135 mp4 854x480 DASH video 1155k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4014, 30fps, video only 247 webm 1280x720 DASH video 1505k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only 136 mp4 1280x720 DASH video 2310k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4016, 30fps, video only 248 webm 1920x1080 DASH video 2646k , webm_dash container, vp9, 30fps, video only 137 mp4 1920x1080 DASH video 4437k , mp4_dash container, avc1.640028, 30fps, video only 18 mp4 640x360 360p 380k , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k (44100Hz), 13.76MiB (best) ``` ## Description <!-- Provide an explanation of your issue in an arbitrary form. Provide any additional information, suggested solution and as much context and examples as possible. If work on your issue requires account credentials please provide them or explain how one can obtain them. --> I use youtube-dl to get the video and audio DASH links from YouTube to play them in vlc. On some (!) videos the -f option gets only the video link for video and audio. Seems to be more frequent on newer YouTube videos.
deekerman 2026-02-21 11:07:54 -05:00
  • closed this issue
  • added the
    invalid
    label
Author
Owner

@dstftw commented on GitHub (May 2, 2020):

So what? This is expected behavior.

@dstftw commented on GitHub (May 2, 2020): So what? This is expected behavior.
Author
Owner

@Isayso commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020):

That I don't get the audio link with bestaudio is expected behavior?
Can you explain how to get the audio link on these videos? Thank you!

@Isayso commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020): That I don't get the audio link with bestaudio is expected behavior? Can you explain how to get the audio link on these videos? Thank you!
Author
Owner

@dstftw commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020):

The links are mpd manifest URL as this is fragmented DASH. No audio or video link technically exists.

@dstftw commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020): The links are mpd manifest URL as this is fragmented DASH. No audio or video link technically exists.
Author
Owner

@Isayso commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020):

Ok, thanks, just for the background of my question, I use this function for around 2 years now in my apps, so I was wondering what happened suddenly. No idea how to go around this yet.

@Isayso commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020): Ok, thanks, just for the background of my question, I use this function for around 2 years now in my apps, so I was wondering what happened suddenly. No idea how to go around this yet.
Author
Owner

@dstftw commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020):

Around what? Again: direct media links are only possible for media served directly, if it's served in fragments you can't get URL to media file cause there is no media file but fragments.

@dstftw commented on GitHub (May 3, 2020): Around what? Again: direct media links are only possible for media served directly, if it's served in fragments you can't get URL to media file cause there is **no media file** but fragments.
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starred/youtube-dl-ytdl-org#20296
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