debian 13.1, yt-dlp 2025.10.14

I’m wondering is this a regular occurrence meaning google changed something in the code again which renders this application useless and I just have to wait till the yt-dlp developers release an update and it works again or if it’s something more serious.

error reads: ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

I also changed the MAC and username to get the same error message. Now I’m thinking about proxifying my computer, so each time I use yt-dlp it runs through tor, but I have no idea how to do it.

help appreciated.

  • pop [he/him]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    141·
    2 days ago

    Are you using the nightly channel of yt-dlp? Because it’s highly recommended that you do. In the case of yt-dlp, nightly is pretty stable and dedicated to circumvent daily YouTube changes (YT is constantly fighting back).

    Edit: check out their GitHub page, because there was also an announcement about a change in the JS engine, we’ll need to use a third-party engine. Not sure if they gave a specific ETA yet, but they usually give a heads-up a couple of months before such changes.

    Edit 2: I also recommend using the binary version of yt-dlp and put it in .local/bin. You can drop ffmpeg and the JS engine there. I found it easier to deal with than apt or pip, because I’m on an outdated system (22.04) and packages keep lagging behind.