can't get anything from YouTube on the main instance

[wukko]

bug description

attempting to get anything from youtube may result in an empty (0 bytes) file or a message that says "youtube downloading is temporarily disabled due to restrictions from youtube's side."

reproduction steps

1. paste any youtube link (such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ).
2. get either an empty file or an error message.

additional context

this exact issue occurred a week ago (#992) and was fixed as soon as it was possible.

the problem is not with cobalt's codebase, but is instead caused by network restrictions from youtube's side. just like last time, our proxy instances can't access googlevideo.com. instead of expected content they get 403. cobalt catches the error and aborts the tunnel, causing empty files as result.

we're already looking into new ways to go around this bullshit restriction, and are doing our best to restore youtube downloading asap. we're not happy about it either and are extremely tired.

since the "problem" is with the network, eta is unknown. resolution time depends on network providers. either me or @dumbmoron will close this issue as soon as it's resolved.

as a temporary (or permanent) workaround, you can host a cobalt instance on your home network: https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/blob/main/docs/run-an-instance.md

[zig71]

Yo bro can we get a fix???

[dumbmoron]

Yo bro can we get a fix???

@zig71 can u read the OP

[zig71]

@dumbmoron Tryna download a vid rn

[eaglehuntt]

That's interesting... I'm curious to learn about how other YT downloading tools can stay running with constant changes on YouTube's side of things. Especially the sketchy ones online. Hopefully you'll be able to get it resolved soon!

[cdarbs11]

This appears to be working! Nice job @wukko! How did you do it?

[zephiii]

Still happening to me. Oddly it only happens when downloading audio.

[coderooo]

How can I solve this problem? I'm having this problem with my own deployed instance @wukko