YoutubeDL.exe does not work when special characters are in path #5089

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opened 2026-02-21 00:32:07 -05:00 by deekerman · 1 comment

deekerman commented

2026-02-21 00:32:07 -05:00

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Originally created by @CoelacanthsKill on GitHub (Jul 7, 2015).

My username in Windows 7 is literally an infinite sign (∞), and YoutubeDL.exe does not work when trying to run it with a "special character" in the path.

C:\Users\∞\Downloads>youtube-dl.exe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQWka7VvUrw
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\py2exe\boot_common.py", line 92, in <modul
e>
ImportError: No module named linecache
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<install zipextimporter>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named zipextimporter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "__main__.py", line 2, in <module>
ImportError: No module named __future__

But from a "normal" path, it works perfectly fine.

Originally created by @CoelacanthsKill on GitHub (Jul 7, 2015). My username in Windows 7 is literally an infinite sign (∞), and YoutubeDL.exe does not work when trying to run it with a "special character" in the path. ``` C:\Users\∞\Downloads>youtube-dl.exe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQWka7VvUrw Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\py2exe\boot_common.py", line 92, in <modul e> ImportError: No module named linecache Traceback (most recent call last): File "<install zipextimporter>", line 1, in <module> ImportError: No module named zipextimporter Traceback (most recent call last): File "__main__.py", line 2, in <module> ImportError: No module named __future__ ``` But from a "normal" path, it works perfectly fine.