Youtube vide breaks after download FFmpegPostProcessorError: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument #19800

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opened 2026-02-21 09:28:16 -05:00 by deekerman · 1 comment

deekerman commented

2026-02-21 09:28:16 -05:00

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Originally created by @Neo-7575 on GitHub (Mar 29, 2020).

Checklist

[ x] I'm reporting a broken site support
[ x] I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2020.03.24
[ 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

youtube-dl -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Y797g_Jg4
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-v', u'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Y797g_Jg4']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.03.24
[debug] Python version 2.7.12 (CPython) - Linux-4.4.0-142-generic-x86_64-with-LinuxMint-18.1-serena
[debug] exe versions: avconv 2.8.15, avprobe 2.8.15, ffmpeg 2.8.15, ffprobe 2.8.15
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] F8Y797g_Jg4: Downloading webpage
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo+bestaudio/best
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r2---sn-u2oxu-bqol.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1585500623&ei=b32AXqWNC5fx7gPwmaqICw&ip=83.21.26.227&id=o-APURSk0Mq2vGobUXqIwaeqcd7LYX1UQ9XWk9CKp_X6Pu&itag=398&aitags=133%2C134%2C135%2C136%2C160%2C242%2C243%2C244%2C247%2C278%2C394%2C395%2C396%2C397%2C398&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=e1&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-u2oxu-bqol%2Csn-u2oxu-f5fe6&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=24&initcwndbps=762500&vprv=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&gir=yes&clen=304138915&dur=4010.005&lmt=1580862799194825&mt=1585478913&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&fexp=23882513&c=WEB&txp=5531432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Caitags%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ADKhkGMwRAIgEOm5YR-CMdx3RwTFshDGkqUW0HyJAffKT0-u4dYae1UCIDElsP2nhjR-ULHgefeN4yiRW1slNPefiDVCSaK_3agX&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=ABSNjpQwRQIgA3C4J2KPAaWZAjWWxagwZknMdGImD1343xeSC3NwXMwCIQDDGMl2VCJ9CVw9YmdtlVE1f-VvanALgy1KGp925cwMEw%3D%3D&ratebypass=yes'
[download] Destination: Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f398.mp4
[download] 100% of 290.05MiB in 03:38
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r2---sn-u2oxu-bqol.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1585500623&ei=b32AXqWNC5fx7gPwmaqICw&ip=83.21.26.227&id=o-APURSk0Mq2vGobUXqIwaeqcd7LYX1UQ9XWk9CKp_X6Pu&itag=140&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=e1&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-u2oxu-bqol%2Csn-u2oxu-f5fe6&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=24&initcwndbps=762500&vprv=1&mime=audio%2Fmp4&gir=yes&clen=64899123&dur=4010.062&lmt=1555995968467430&mt=1585478913&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&fexp=23882513&c=WEB&txp=5535432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ADKhkGMwRAIgGrP01xUF9o2dU-4S0GEV2dnnBao1eDJZjsHIkahY0boCIEq9qx2l1F6mPmemEmT5UaTAOJxxwaf-SWBo_uvuxx7A&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=ABSNjpQwRQIgA3C4J2KPAaWZAjWWxagwZknMdGImD1343xeSC3NwXMwCIQDDGMl2VCJ9CVw9YmdtlVE1f-VvanALgy1KGp925cwMEw%3D%3D&ratebypass=yes'
[download] Destination: Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 61.89MiB in 00:45
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.mp4"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -loglevel 'repeat+info' -i 'file:Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f398.mp4' -i 'file:Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f140.m4a' -c copy -map '0✌️0' -map '1🅰️0' 'file:Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.temp.mp4'
ERROR: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2065, in post_process
files_to_delete, info = pp.run(info)
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 512, in run
self.run_ffmpeg_multiple_files(info['__files_to_merge'], temp_filename, args)
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 235, in run_ffmpeg_multiple_files
raise FFmpegPostProcessorError(msg)
FFmpegPostProcessorError: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument

Description

instead of 1 video file I get 3 files

Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f140.m4a

Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f398.mp4

Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.temp.mp4

The video files don't look playable while .m4a contains audio only.

Only this video looks like its problematic to download, no other YT video shows this problem.

Theory:
the -- in the video title can mess up something that uses bash and even " -- " will not escape it can this be the problem?

The video is playable in the browser.

Originally created by @Neo-7575 on GitHub (Mar 29, 2020).  ## Checklist  - [ x] I'm reporting a broken site support - [ x] I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version **2020.03.24** - [ 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  youtube-dl -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Y797g_Jg4 [debug] System config: [] [debug] User config: [] [debug] Custom config: [] [debug] Command-line args: [u'-v', u'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Y797g_Jg4'] [debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8 [debug] youtube-dl version 2020.03.24 [debug] Python version 2.7.12 (CPython) - Linux-4.4.0-142-generic-x86_64-with-LinuxMint-18.1-serena [debug] exe versions: avconv 2.8.15, avprobe 2.8.15, ffmpeg 2.8.15, ffprobe 2.8.15 [debug] Proxy map: {} [youtube] F8Y797g_Jg4: Downloading webpage [debug] Default format spec: bestvideo+bestaudio/best [debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r2---sn-u2oxu-bqol.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1585500623&ei=b32AXqWNC5fx7gPwmaqICw&ip=83.21.26.227&id=o-APURSk0Mq2vGobUXqIwaeqcd7LYX1UQ9XWk9CKp_X6Pu&itag=398&aitags=133%2C134%2C135%2C136%2C160%2C242%2C243%2C244%2C247%2C278%2C394%2C395%2C396%2C397%2C398&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=e1&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-u2oxu-bqol%2Csn-u2oxu-f5fe6&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=24&initcwndbps=762500&vprv=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&gir=yes&clen=304138915&dur=4010.005&lmt=1580862799194825&mt=1585478913&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&fexp=23882513&c=WEB&txp=5531432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Caitags%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ADKhkGMwRAIgEOm5YR-CMdx3RwTFshDGkqUW0HyJAffKT0-u4dYae1UCIDElsP2nhjR-ULHgefeN4yiRW1slNPefiDVCSaK_3agX&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=ABSNjpQwRQIgA3C4J2KPAaWZAjWWxagwZknMdGImD1343xeSC3NwXMwCIQDDGMl2VCJ9CVw9YmdtlVE1f-VvanALgy1KGp925cwMEw%3D%3D&ratebypass=yes' [download] Destination: Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f398.mp4 [download] 100% of 290.05MiB in 03:38 [debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r2---sn-u2oxu-bqol.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1585500623&ei=b32AXqWNC5fx7gPwmaqICw&ip=83.21.26.227&id=o-APURSk0Mq2vGobUXqIwaeqcd7LYX1UQ9XWk9CKp_X6Pu&itag=140&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=e1&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-u2oxu-bqol%2Csn-u2oxu-f5fe6&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=24&initcwndbps=762500&vprv=1&mime=audio%2Fmp4&gir=yes&clen=64899123&dur=4010.062&lmt=1555995968467430&mt=1585478913&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&fexp=23882513&c=WEB&txp=5535432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ADKhkGMwRAIgGrP01xUF9o2dU-4S0GEV2dnnBao1eDJZjsHIkahY0boCIEq9qx2l1F6mPmemEmT5UaTAOJxxwaf-SWBo_uvuxx7A&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=ABSNjpQwRQIgA3C4J2KPAaWZAjWWxagwZknMdGImD1343xeSC3NwXMwCIQDDGMl2VCJ9CVw9YmdtlVE1f-VvanALgy1KGp925cwMEw%3D%3D&ratebypass=yes' [download] Destination: Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f140.m4a [download] 100% of 61.89MiB in 00:45 [ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.mp4" [debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -loglevel 'repeat+info' -i 'file:Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f398.mp4' -i 'file:Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f140.m4a' -c copy -map '0:v:0' -map '1:a:0' 'file:Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.temp.mp4' ERROR: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2065, in post_process files_to_delete, info = pp.run(info) File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 512, in run self.run_ffmpeg_multiple_files(info['__files_to_merge'], temp_filename, args) File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/postprocessor/ffmpeg.py", line 235, in run_ffmpeg_multiple_files raise FFmpegPostProcessorError(msg) FFmpegPostProcessorError: Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument ## Description  instead of 1 video file I get 3 files Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f140.m4a Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.f398.mp4 Tip Toland Workshop -- Sculpting a Clay Head - Free Tutorial-F8Y797g_Jg4.temp.mp4 The video files don't look playable while .m4a contains audio only. Only this video looks like its problematic to download, no other YT video shows this problem. Theory: the -- in the video title can mess up something that uses bash and even " -- " will not escape it can this be the problem? The video is playable in the browser.

deekerman

2026-02-21 09:28:16 -05:00

closed this issue
added the
invalid
label

deekerman commented

2026-02-21 09:28:20 -05:00

Author

Owner

@dstftw commented on GitHub (Mar 29, 2020):

Outdated ffmpeg.

@dstftw commented on GitHub (Mar 29, 2020): Outdated ffmpeg.

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Reference

starred/youtube-dl#19800

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