Youtube issue: official statement from the devs

[jcfrog]

Sorry for the long delay for youtube issue. A lot happened on the youtube servers, we have been trying to catch up in the past couple of months. But we're on it!

The issues that we are aware of are:

• video not detected - this should be addressed in version v9.3.1.2 (at the moment, Firefox Beta only, then Edge, then Firefox Stable, as soon as we get confirmation this version works for our beta testers).
• only 360p video detected. This is actively being worked on. A work around is to download the video in Incognito / Private mode.
• Wrong audio language. This is not actively being worked on. We are working on the 360p issue first.

If the video are not being detected or are very slow to download, let us know but also tell us if you are logged-in in youtube or not.

Thank you for your patience :)

Edit 25/03/25: latest update Version 9.3.5 is on its way

[gbodley]

Thanks for your efforts. This is very frustrating for everyone.

[paulus119354]

Thanks for the update! 👍

[jay353535]

Thank you! Looking forward to the dubbed audio language fix eventually. :) I've seen some Youtube video download sites are detecting the various audio streams and presenting them as separate download options, so hopefully it's possible to solve.

[naoto-kimura-1964]

Thanks for the update!
I guess one upside of the videos that download in wrong language -- perhaps it's an opportunity to brush up on foreign language skills?

[jay353535]

It's a really bad dub with lower sound quality than the original language audio, so not really.

[jay353535]

Here's an example of a video that still only offers a single 360p download option even in Firefox Private window (logged out).

edit: Nevermind, closed the Private window and opened a new one and tried again and it showed 1080p. Seems getting the full set of download options is more fragile than it used to be.

edit 2: The Beta with the Youtube download Private/Logged out fix that was starting to degrade as time went on, has now failed completely, with no download options other than 360p again.

[keyonew]

Not working for me, tried opening closing a private window as you did. Still only 360p using Version 9.3.1.2 (beta) Firefox.
With the standard window logged in and out with YT still only 360p.
I'm sure the devs are hard at work and doing their best.

[iGitm]

Thank you for update!! no videos detected here for 2 days- was fine before that! I'm now waiting for update....Yes, logged in with YouTube Premium account and no luck with DL - then attempted to use DL when logged out without success- then logged back in- no luck... I'd be happy to try something new if you need a guinea pig to test for you.
Regards, Al

[TrezHir22]

Same here in France

[iGitm]

My DL is working 100% now. THANKS SO MUCH for your GREAT support!!!!!!! It's appreciated.

[dimi31000]

Hello,
I have someone who has the latest version of Firefox.
They can no longer load videos.
I tried to put the file (vdh-mozzilla-beta-latest.xpi) in FireFox but i doesn't work

[timlyg]

guys, put a like in the post and let the genius work!

[3stonian]

i wanted to note, that despite normal youtube in firefox didnt find the video.... the Firefox Private found the video and i could download it, i am in malaysia

[timlyg]

ya, didn't work for me. Private Firefox no go. I'm in Jersey.

[audimackid]

Thank you for all of your efforts.

[slchoong]

The download feature has stopped working for me about three days ago. Luckily, I am still able to download videos in the private mode of Mozilla Firefox. I am in Nevada using Mozilla Firefox version 136.0.2 and Video Downloadhelper version 9.3.0.1. Thank you for your hard work!

[slchoong]

Private mode no longer detect YouTube videos anymore today. 😣

[stamasd]

It had stopped working for me yesterday (Firefox 136.0.2 on Linux) then after a few hours it worked again, and today again it's not working. Video not detected. Version 9.3.1.2 beta. Logged into YT, in the USA.
(edit) in a Firefox private window, it works. It detects and downloads videos.

[gbodley]

An example of a video I would like to be able to download at the highest quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1QarpUOL6U

[FarneyBlather]

The extension is unable to detect any video playing on YouTube. Using a private window or mode does not work, either. I'm in the U.S., but understand the outage is affecting other countries, as well.

This also happened a month ago or so, and lasted several days, until some update was applied to the extension. The extension again went down yesterday, March 21, 2025.

Is YouTube targeting this extension in particular, all similar extensions in general, or has some perfectly mundane update just happened to break everything?

[gbodley]

I have a Open Source Video downloader associated with my OS which is not WIndows or iOS. My app can only download a video with sound in 360p. It can download higher resolutions but without sound. It can also download only the audio without any video.

[Moviesxp]

For me, I have the same problem. I was trying to get an ad compilation for some stuff I wanted to make, but it wouldn't detect the video. However, using Private Searching fixes the issue for me on the beta version of the extension (it might not work for others depending on region), but can only find a 360p one. I'm OK with that, personally. But I do hope it gets fixed soon...

[Moviesxp]

ok nevermind it failed to download

[Moviesxp]

It seems to download now in a normal window after a computer restart. (again, in 360p)

[Moviesxp]

and the video works well

[Moviesxp]

This is also the video that I was able to download, if it helps with finding out why its not working for some users: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdzkwo9XA7s

[Tabeas33]

Danke...  Von meinem/meiner Galaxy gesendet -------- Ursprüngliche Nachricht --------Von: BLS-Pro ***@***.***> Datum: 25.03.25 13:49 (GMT+01:00) An: aclap-dev/video-downloadhelper ***@***.***> Cc: Tabeas33 ***@***.***>, Comment ***@***.***> Betreff: Re: [aclap-dev/video-downloadhelper] Youtube issue: official statement from the devs (Discussion #1848) The 9.3.5.0 beta resolved all the issues for me. Thanks guys! —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Flambidou]

It shows 1080p and after downloading i only have 360*480

[jcfrog]

can you share the link?

[Flambidou]

Unfortunately i can't, these are videos I can view only if i am connected to my account.
I am trying to download it on my Personal Computer because on my laptop (work) i dont have access to this website (blacklisted).

[Flambidou]

I am trying right now with the beta version for firefox ... and it seems better (downloading time is much slower and seems to retrieve a 1080p version)
Stay tuned

[Flambidou]

Failed. still a small video in result
It's from "https://www.decoincesducrayon.com" but i can't give you my account
One the video seems to come from cloudflarestream

[gtmark1]

Firefox beta 9.3.5 seems to have solved the problem. Used it 2x now. My congrats to the devs and everyone involved. Keeping the fingers crossed :)

[FarneyBlather]

We are supposed to download a beta version of the Firefox browser? Or a beta version of the extension? No one mentions the OS they are running, and there aren't any links, which leaves me thinking this is speculative.

I'm running Windows 10 64-bit. As of 26MAR25, the extension is unable to detect YouTube videos within Firefox.

[radfaraf]

The extension, it is linked in the original post: https://www.downloadhelper.net/w/Beta-versions

[FarneyBlather]

Got it. Missed the date changes in the original post.

The beta update seems to take care of the YouTube issue . . . almost.

[Irissa32]

HI. Today I tried to download videos from Youtube and VDH was greyed out. I read on this thread about the successes people were having by using the Firefox BETA version, which I installed, and it was great - I downloaded a few videos with no issues.
However, since I downloaded the BETA version, my pc has twice shut itself down in the middle of looking at Youtube (not actually during downloading), so possibly the BETA has made my pc unstable?
I'm on Windows 10, using up to date Firefox. I've not had any issues like this previously.

[HIeronymous99]

Am able to download video again on Firefox (OSX) with the beta version. But my long-standing licence key no longer seems to work so I'm getting the QR code. I've tried reentering it several times but it doesn't "take". Where exactly should I be entering the licence key please?

[jcfrog]

hi,
this should help: https://github.com/aclap-dev/video-downloadhelper/wiki/V9-interface#validate-your-license-key

[HIeronymous99]

Thank you. Daft of me. Didn't see "Enter license key" below (hadn't scrolled that far) so just kept pressing return. Works now.

Many thanks.

[painterkev]

Updated Firefox(stable) on Windows 11 today and now back working VDH 9.3.01

[OneRolf]

FF beta W7
What's the situation with FF beta / W7 right now?
Mine is still not working. (It recognizes video, but no matter what alternative I choose, it stays at 0%, as before.)

Logged in to YT
Firefox 115.21.1esr 64 bit / W7
VDH 9.3.5.0 beta
Sweden
CoApp 2.0.20.0

[jcfrog]

It is supposed to be working with W7. Could it be a firewall/antivirus issue?

[IrwinMFletcher]

Weird. Not in a hurry - just following the progress here - randomly checked today running FF 136.0.3 and VDH 9.3.0.1 - it detected a video and downloaded 51m of 1080p just like it always has. Maybe YT reverted some change they made.

[tmjGit]

Today I updated from 9.3.5.0 to 9.3.5.1 and YouTube detection stoppt working!
Now I am on 9.3.5.0 beta and in works again:

macOS 13.6.7, iMac 27"
German location and language in system, applications and YouTube
Firefox 136.0.3
vdh 9.3.5.0, yesterday ** YT videos ARE recognized by vdh **
vdh 9.3.5.1, today at first ** YT videos NOT recognized by vdh **
Firefox 136.0.4 with vdh 9.3.5.0 beta, today now ** YT videos ARE recognized by vdh **
VdhCoApp 2.0.19, licenced
YouTube logged in.

Ubuntu 24.04.2, Gnome 46, X11, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7
German location and language in system, applications and YouTube
Firefox 136.0.1 64-Bit Snap for Ubuntu
VDHCOAPP 2.0.19
vdh 9.3.0.1 (no update shown!) ** YT videos NOT recognized by vdh ** (only a few tested)
vdh 9.3.5.0 beta ** YT videos ARE recognized by vdh **

[IvySong73]

VDH 9.3.0.1
VDHcoapp (licensed, not sure of version)
Firefox 136.0.2
Windows 11
Midwest, USA

I am getting detection on most youtube videos, but I suspect that there is an issue with ones that are flagged as mature audience, and needs some sort of youtube account verification check. This is based on a lot of what I keep locally are ASMR videos, which have been getting a bad rap lately and get flagged as Adult. It seems the older videos tend to work well, but the newer ones don't get detected.

I am logged into YT for these examples (same content creator channel)-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udN-Ccetm7I --- detected successfully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uLP0ro9COY --- undetected.

Thank you for all the work! I'm hoping maybe this info can help the effort =)

[jcfrog]

Hi,
Did you try this? #1872

[IrwinMFletcher]

Interesting, no detection on both of those for me - plus - the 3 that downloaded the other day when I posted an update no longer detect. So probably just a glitch that it worked then. Tempted to spin up another VM to test the beta. I think I can test download without 'consuming' a license? Don't want to abuse my current license.

[FarneyBlather]

The extension is once again detecting the presence of video streams on YouTube. However, the extension often fails to download in the MP4 format. It occasionally fails to download MKV, as well. When selecting quality/format, the MP4 format may or may not appear one moment, only to appear again, later. Reloading a web page may affect what seems available. I've downloaded an MP4 that ended up as 5 GB of scrambled video with audio. That had to be downloaded as in MKV format.

All of this is in Windows 10 64-bit and Firefox 136.04 (64-bit).

Here is a video that will not download in the MP4 format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THyXWq5iS0k&t=15550s

Videos can also download without sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgjf7knzbx0&t=17176s

[FarneyBlather]

FORCE DETECTION

The little button to the bottom right seems to clear all that nonsense right up. The extension is back to downloading MP4 files successfully, without video or audio issues, and the speed is back, as well.

[naoto-kimura-1964]

Installed beta 9.3.5.0 on FireFox 136.0.4 on Windows 11 -- detection is working, and can download larger than 360p. So far so good, remaining problem is audio language. Many thanks.

[naoto-kimura-1964]

Whoops. 9.3.5.2 on same version of Firefox 136.0.4 on Windows 7 is not working now. Not detecting video on YouTube (video was previously detected). Apparently something has happened.

[naoto-kimura-1964]

Strange... it seems to be working again (though audio is wrong language).

[widdi1977]

what happened now? new Firefox 136.0.4, Win11 Prof, still using 9.3.0.1 / v2.0.19

I saw 30 minutes ago the coloured symbol of VDH - and yes.. it detected the video. So I did some searches for childrens video for my son.
I could download 3 full videos and convert to mp4 (only one language track). It worked... but then I did some more searches... now it says again "no video found" on YT

edit: close browser, use "recent videos" from youtube and load them from there... it will work 3-5times again.. I tested it two times

[dengelkes79]

I get video steams in Spanish instead of English on an English video. How I change the language settings?

[JP-63-JP]

I am having the "same/similar" issue. All videos downloaded from YouTube have (I believe) German audio. I am on Firefox 137.0.2 and just got the VHD 9.3.7.2 Update in the past 36 hours or so.