Cant download youtube channel sponsor video

[4rtb]

Checklist

• I'm reporting a broken site support
• I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
• I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser
• I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
• I've searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

Verbose log

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-v', '--cookies', 'e4rtf.txt', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-WPq6cClw']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1251, fs mbcs, out cp866, pref cp1251
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.4.4 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.19041
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-121271-g74115b017c-20250930, ffprobe N-121271-g74115b017c-20250930
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading API JSON
ERROR: Join this channel to get access to members-only content like this video, and other exclusive perks.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\dst\AppData\Roaming\Build archive\youtube-dl\ytdl-org\tmpupik7c6w\build\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
File "C:\Users\dst\AppData\Roaming\Build archive\youtube-dl\ytdl-org\tmpupik7c6w\build\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 836, in __extract_info
File "C:\Users\dst\AppData\Roaming\Build archive\youtube-dl\ytdl-org\tmpupik7c6w\build\youtube_dl\extractor\common.py", line 534, in extract
File "C:\Users\dst\AppData\Roaming\Build archive\youtube-dl\ytdl-org\tmpupik7c6w\build\youtube_dl\extractor\youtube.py", line 1731, in _real_extract
youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: Join this channel to get access to members-only content like this video, and other exclusive perks.

Description

When trying to download a YouTube channel sponsor-only (members-only) video using valid cookies from an active Channel Member account, youtube-dl fails with the following error:

Join this channel to get access to members-only content like this video, and other exclusive perks.

The same account can watch the video in a normal web browser — cookies are valid and verified.

Command used: youtube-dl --cookies e4rtf.txt "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-WPq6cClw"

[dirkf]

Please try again with the next nightly build: #30839.

Owing to instability in the YT site, the extraction has to be reworked rather too often, and maybe it will fail altogether depending on how YT changes the site. Nonetheless a new version should appear in the next day or so.

[4rtb]

[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading TVHTML5 API JSON
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading player 0004de42-main
[download] Sleeping 1.00 seconds as required by the site...
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 23
[download] Destination: ИСКАТ ДА МЕ СЪДЯТ ЗА 3-ТИ ПЪТ (ПУСНАХА МИ ЖАЛБА)-Zw-WPq6cClw.f299.mp4
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 1 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 2 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 3 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 4 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 5 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 6 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 7 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 8 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 9 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 10 of 10)...
ERROR: giving up after 10 fragment retries

[dirkf]

Please use -v/--verbose to show the version being used, etc. Like this (same result with 2025.10.19)

$ youtube-dl -vF 'Zw-WPq6cClw'
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-vF', u'Zw-WPq6cClw']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2025.09.29 [82552faba] (single file build)
[debug] ** This version was built from the latest master code at https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl.
[debug] ** For support, visit the main site.
[debug] Python 2.7.15 (CPython i686 32bit) - Linux-6.1.0-40-686-pae-i686-with-debian-12.12 - OpenSSL 1.1.1a  20 Nov 2018 - glibc 2.1.3
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 5.1.7-0, ffprobe 5.1.7-0
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player 0004de42
        original url = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/27422632/player_ias.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading TVHTML5 API JSON
ERROR: Join this channel from your computer or Android app to get access to members-only content like this video.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 886, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 982, in __extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 573, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
  File "./youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 2677, in _real_extract
    raise ExtractorError(reason, expected=True)
ExtractorError: Join this channel from your computer or Android app to get access to members-only content like this video.

$ 

In principle you need to pass --cookies ... with a cookie file exported from a logged-in browser session where you can see the members-only content (FAQ) as you apparently did in the original log; but nowadays log in in a private window and close it immediately after exporting cookies to avoid YT rotating your cookies in the browser session.

Then, as the site is screwing itself, actually getting usable video, rather than listing formats, may need the next version: hence

...the next nightly build

That could explain the second log, where you don't get the "Join this channel ..." message but do get bad media, as in yt-dlp/yt-dlp#14680. It seems that you'll only be able to get the formats available from the WEB Safari InnerTube client, since other clients are failing the n-sig challenge (as presumably in your 2nd log) and/or don't support authentication with cookies.

[4rtb]

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-v', '--cookies', 'e4rtf.txt', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-WPq6cClw']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1251, fs mbcs, out cp866, pref cp1251
[debug] youtube-dl version 2025.10.19 [1e109aaee] (single file build)
[debug] ** This version was built from the latest master code at https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl.
[debug] ** For support, visit the main site.
[debug] Python 3.4.4 (CPython AMD64 32bit) - Windows-10-10.0.19041 - OpenSSL 1.0.2d 9 Jul 2015
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-121271-g74115b017c-20250930, ffprobe N-121271-g74115b017c-20250930
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Forcing "main" player JS variant for player 0004de42
        original url = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/27422632/player_ias.vflset/en_US/base.js
[debug] [youtube] Extracted SAPISID cookie
[youtube] Zw-WPq6cClw: Downloading TVHTML5 API JSON
[debug] Loading youtube-nsig.0004de42-main from cache
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig FEHhKAlR_d79uX1Ifx4 => vLog46UzvD45icAciP
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig oXLeLFM4iDzZbb2kW2I => gzZcz35fA4eJ7dvIIc
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo+bestaudio/best
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://rr5---sn-5goeenes.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?xpc=EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D&fvip=5&mime=video%2Fmp4&mv=m&lsparams=met%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps&siu=1&aitags=133%2C134%2C135%2C136%2C160%2C242%2C243%2C244%2C247%2C278%2C298%2C299%2C302%2C303&n=gzZcz35fA4eJ7dvIIc&mt=1761176221&sefc=1&itag=299&mh=ZQ&bui=ATw7iSUroYreX8iPz0i91mVZB50rhYbh3ilDcq1wGFetZHPxZj2i5gXz0dZ090RsbzMdNjIN9Q&lsig=APaTxxMwRQIgIRUwfroK_OOg_0ipsS9-OeDemt11ZIBgiJq0G_4PKDACIQC9d0RD0KJ8iqTKzBnVemGiG04htilTQ6bML-7ribr3cg%3D%3D&lmw=1&initcwndbps=3462500&pl=64&ns=Q1BagoyPYYul0OnGWY7pxy4Q&ms=au%2Crdu&fexp=51557447%2C51565116%2C51565681%2C51580970&rqh=1&c=TVHTML5&rms=au%2Cau&met=1761176482%2C&mm=31%2C29&id=o-AJtHoJ-cSRZJ10syNPyWFYMsx-jJh5wciinkPZdmghcm&ip=2a09%3Abac1%3A61a0%3A%3A388%3A7c&clen=231630515&svpuc=1&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Caitags%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Csiu%2Cbui%2Cvprv%2Csvpuc%2Cmime%2Cns%2Crqh%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&vprv=1&lmt=1760988377005189&requiressl=yes&mn=sn-5goeenes%2Csn-5go7ynlk&keepalive=yes&dur=627.259&ei=omv5aMWjFZqG0u8Pmc_A4A0&gir=yes&source=youtube&mvi=5&expire=1761198082&sig=AJfQdSswRQIhAPnxo2mF4AoRCUDxuqYU2EM4JTb7cqRgTrhfGHESFJLEAiAne9Jff0DzQiAY-LqtBCk8Ir01gfw0twhflfW8-q7Ahw%3D%3D&txp=6309224'
[download] Sleeping 2.00 seconds as required by the site...
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 23
[download] Destination: ИСКАТ ДА МЕ СЪДЯТ ЗА 3-ТИ ПЪТ (ПУСНАХА МИ ЖАЛБА)-Zw-WPq6cClw.f299.mp4
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 1 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 2 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 3 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 4 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 5 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 6 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 7 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 8 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 9 of 10)...
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 10 of 10)...
ERROR: giving up after 10 fragment retries
  File "__main__.py", line 19, in <module>
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\__init__.py", line 479, in main
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\__init__.py", line 469, in _real_main
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 2265, in download
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 879, in extract_info
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 886, in wrapper
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 993, in __extract_info
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 1027, in process_ie_result
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 1871, in process_video_result
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 142, in wrapper
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 2163, in process_info
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 2099, in dl
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\downloader\common.py", line 394, in download
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\downloader\dash.py", line 78, in real_download
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\downloader\common.py", line 176, in report_error
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 679, in report_error
  File "D:\a\ytdl-nightly\ytdl-nightly\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 638, in trouble

[dirkf]

As expected.

Per yt-dlp/yt-dlp/#14710#issuecomment-3435641151, we'll be limited to formats 91-96 for authenticated sessions in the next version, for as long as that works.

[4rtb]

yt-dlp/yt-dlp#14705 (comment)

[dirkf]

Should be working with #33216.

[Ginwnn924]

If anyone is having trouble downloading, I built a wrapper around yt-dlp that works perfectly.
It supports Member-only videos, Playlists, and has a Cookie Login feature.
Free & Open source here: https://github.com/Ginwnn924/yt-downloader