Problems on YouTube June 22 2025. Anyone else having issues?

[chipmonk3775]

Your question

I'll admit I hadn't checked YT in about a week, but last week had no issues with downloading videos using the BETA version. Today, checking YT and one of two things is happening:
1 - Video is not detected (other downloader detects OK)
2 - If detected, most videos will not download (error about 1 second into download, exit code 1, no helpful debug information). I did get a few videos to download OK (older? I can't remember)

(Other downloader downloads everything OK. Had 1 issue with 1 video on other downloader, says 'error muxing audio and video' so it's possible YT has tweaked their audio feeds again - but a couple dozen other videos that weren't detected or failed download on this extension downloaded fine using the other app).

Error box contents:
Exit code: 1

moz-extension://37c9eaea-8541-461d-b991-f85027798340/background/main.js:1
receive@moz-extension://37c9eaea-8541-461d-b991-f85027798340/background/main.js:1:13135
bd</callCatchAppNotFound/</<@moz-extension://37c9eaea-8541-461d-b991-f85027798340/background/main.js:1:42669

I noted build date on BETA was 5-25-2025 so I tried to update using your website. When I click on install beta for Firefox, I just get a spinning/loading forever, nothing happens.
Uninstalled BETA and installed commercial version from Mozilla.org (v9.5.0.2), having problems noted above.

Addon & CoApp version and details

version: 9.5.0.2
channel: stable
build date: 2025-05-28
build options: linuxlic: false, noyt: false, browser: firefox
lang: en-US
license: accepted
key (only 16 first characters): 4a7a0f7795794914
platform: x86-64 win
UA: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:139.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/139.0
coapp: yes. Info:
{
"id": "net.downloadhelper.coapp",
"name": "VdhCoApp",
"version": "2.0.19",
"binary": "C:\Program Files\DownloadHelper CoApp\vdhcoapp.exe",
"displayName": "VdhCoApp",
"description": "Video DownloadHelper companion app",
"target": {
"os": "windows",
"arch": "x86_64",
"node": "18"
},
"home": "C:\Users\ETI-T",
"converterBinary": "C:\Program Files\DownloadHelper CoApp\ffmpeg.exe",
"converterBase": "ffmpeg",
"converterBaseVersion": "c30f360955"
}

[chipmonk3775]

Sample: This video is detected, but won't download
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSaGUSX985I

[Mattmjs]

I tested that and no issue.

[chipmonk3775]

Still fails for me. That's just odd...

[SundayScour]

Yup, fails for me also.

[pnelson2]

As others have suggested, YouTube seems to be doing a throttling protocol. A week or so ago I reported here getting the "We failed to download this specific media ..." message after an hour of successful downloads. But a couple of days ago I tried again and the failed video downloaded fine, along with a bunch of others, before I started hitting that blockade again. This morning it seem to be working fine.
So YouTube appears to be throttling downloads - based on IP address? But only temporarily.

[GingerJohnny]

Starting today, 7/1/2025, I suddenly started to get "Sadly we failed at downloading that specific media.". I had been successfully downloading YT videos today (v. 9.5.0.2 installed on June 17, 2025) and then then the errors started. Plenty of space on the drive.

[nightshocker]

I have been getting this error for about 2 weeks or so. I thought everyone was getting it so I just waited for a fix.

[SundayScour]

Same here. Trying those free websites, but at best I need to use VLC to integrate audio and video, then rename the file to the video title. Not ideal.

[TEOL85]

The go forth and mutliply has been happening for 2 weeks but I got my session of videos anyway last week in multiple half hour sessions this week not so lucky it's fully broke I got one video by luick then go forth all day.

[SundayScour]

Update. This is video for the game Destiny 2 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoIlOm0LMvY ) which was not downloading before. I used the free service of Proton VPN, it happened to connect me to Japan, and now the video is currently downloading just fine, albeit at only 5MB/s, versus 10 or 15, but that works for me. Now, I just need to see if it would also work on their USA access point, which is what it usually connects me to.

[SundayScour]

And now it is not working for any other videos while I am on the VPN connecting to YouTube from Japan.

[SundayScour]

After several tries, I got another video to download. After error upon error, it eventually clicked and allowed a download. Perhaps being too greedy and downloading more than one at a time plays a part too...?

[Mattmjs]

Have a look at this comment along with my reply #2190 (comment)

[unkhode]

can not download any YT streams, however the option to downloads the stream is there, it just fails. I only noticed this yesterday. I think last week it was working. I uninstalled and reinstalled and re-authenticated license. No joy..

UPDATE - It seems the problem is NordVPN. I turned it off YT downloads are working. It works in LibreWolf with NorcVPN, but why?

#2206 (comment)

[kevinp1335]

I just purchased a license today and downloaded four YT videos. The fifth one keeps giving me "Sadly we failed at downloading that specific media." immediately. I'm new to this app, so I don't know where to find the logs, or if it even matters.

[RuinerVoid]

I was downloading fine until earlier today (literally had downloaded a video about 30 mins prior), and VDH stopped detecting ALL Youtube vids for me. They still seem to play just fine in Firefox though.

To troubleshoot (and each of these, I closed and reopened Firefox):
I reinstalled the Companion App, no dice.
Uninstalled VDH Beta, installed normal, reinstalled key, no dice.
Went back to Beta, no dice.

[GrampaWildWilly]

I do not work for VDH. I'm just another user. Also, please read #2214.

I've just posted in #2185 & #2213. My comments there might be relevant here. Also, you might want to post at least 1 YouTube URL of something that isn't working for you. I could try to download that & see if I get the same problem as you do.

[RuinerVoid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPS-LM3pWA&list=PLfMUIh_mRJG123DpuIPQIs7bdcVIummCP

I was working my way through those and got to 33, though sporadically with errors. I'd just wait a bit and then I could get another couple here and there. But after the last couple about 6 hours ago, VDH stopped detecting ALL videos on Youtube for me. It still works on other sites for me, just no longer on Youtube.

[GrampaWildWilly]

This is a bit tricky because YouTube pages swallow certain keystrokes as being directives to the video player. I don't want to launch playback within the web page. So I had to do things in a very specific order:

1. Ctrl+f to open the Firefox Find in Page dialog.
2. Typed 1 & 2 in as my search key.
3. Hit F6 a couple of times so focus was within the page body, not the search dialog, not the URL bar.

4. Hit Tab a few times to advance focus from the character string to the playlist. Note the blue line.

5. Hit Shift+DownArrow. This highlights the entire playlist.

6. Now open the VDH menu. Notice the bulk download indication.

7. Click the bulk download button. That opened 52 tabs that looked vaguely like this. Problem is, there was no download in progress. The Windows System Monitor showed no entry for ffmpeg, which would have been VDH doing a download. Seems to me somebody else reported this problem in another discussion.

So in order for me to replicate your results, I would have to try to manually launch a download of each one of the 52 videos individually. I'm a nice guy but I'm not that nice. I'm not the slightest bit interested in these videos so I'm not going to download them all to see whether I can. Somebody more motivated than I am will have to do that.

I did decide to download the first episode. That went without a hitch. The download speed gradually increased for the duration of the download. It had reached 18M/s by the time it ended. I have no doubt it would have continued to speed up if it had been any longer. It took less than 20 seconds & it played in VLC just fine, although I just sampled it to make sure there was audio & video throughout. I don't speak whatever language that is. It sounds like Chinese to me, but I could be wrong. The burned in Chinese subtitles were as unintelligible to me as the spoken dialog. I doubt this is any help since you say you have been able to download parts of this in spurts.

I can't say I've ever been interested enough in any series of anything on YouTube to come close to triggering a download limit imposed by the web site. I have to simply accept what you say & defer to our absent developer to investigate this.

[RuinerVoid]

I appreciate you checking it out. I'll see what I can do on my end. And to be fair, I stumbled on it on Prime Video, and then looked it up. It's apparently one of the most popular Chinese shows, and it scratched my adventure/horror itch. Apparently the rest of the series that are based on the books are super popular as well (and some series are even longer).

As for replicating it, I wouldn't expect the need to do each one, though I'm glad to hear you got the first ep to catch. It won't even detect it as a video on my end anymore.

[chipmonk3775]

Yes, that's the behavior I see as well. I tried again today, with the same results. 6 or so videos download, then Block. know the official word from the author is that it's Google doing some type of security check, but then why can I play the video on Firefox while it's not being detected? Whatever method this application uses to download videos, it trips Google's security faster than the browser. I can also continue to download from Video Download Helper ultimate (the paid version) while this downloader is stuck not detecting videos. VDH is not integrated in the browser and slow to detect videos, so it's not as convenient.

…

On Mon, Jun 30, 2025, 8:38 PM GrampaWildWilly ***@***.***> wrote: I do not work for VDH. I'm just another user. Also, please read #2214 <#2214>. I've just posted in #2185 <#2185> & #2213 <#2213>. My comments there might be relevant here. Also, you might want to post at least 1 YouTube URL of something that isn't working for you. I could try to download that & see if I get the same problem as you do. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2193 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AXXA2OBHG5JEMJJQIRI4MS33GHJ7NAVCNFSM6AAAAAB73K4WXKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGNRSGMYDSMY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: <aclap-dev/video-downloadhelper/repo-discussions/2193/comments/13623093@ github.com>

[GrampaWildWilly]

What is Video Download Helper Ultimate? That's not terminology we use. We just say we're using a licensed VDH. Is there some other product you are comparing VDH to? You have me quite confused.

VDH is a browser extension. A browser extension could not possibly be more integrated into the browser. More confusion.

Video Download Helper is usually referred to around here as VDH. If there is another product with a nearly identical name, that's a bit of a problem. I'm no lawyer but that seems like some kind of copyright infringement. At the very least, the other product should have a name that is different from the one we discuss in this forum. I think we've been around longer than anybody else. I could be wrong, but I think we've staked our claim on the name Video Download Helper & the acronym VDH. Anybody else needs to use some other terminology.

[kevinp1335]

I can download 4 or 5 videos and then I get the error. If I try again a couple hours later, that same video that errored downloads just fine. So, it's not the video. I would believe it's Google blocking somehow.

[TEOL85]

I've been pissed off for weeks this time I'm just trying waiting a minute between tracks see if I can get all 40 tracks for the TECS - TOTP chart by just waiting before the next. lol.

I bet I will still end up having to record live it's worth trying something new before giving up like last week.

Is it possible that the next VDH beta can actaully put in original server format YouTube detection in webm not their own with the fake format MKV which isn't even on YouTube it has better 48000khz 160-rarely 320 Opus audio more ideal for my chart than 44100khz 128 m4a audio conversions VDH needs to think about better audio needs as well on the YouTube side and having the proper webm thing on it as the prime detection mkv as the 3rd and mp4 second in the list I think it would be the best VDH version yet.