Who here has a Youtube-DL compile for WinXP?

[nicolaasjan]

Info:
On GitHub, the names and download links of yt-dlp for Windows XP have changed:

yt-dlp_x86_Windows-XP.zip > yt-dlp_x86_winXP.exe (starting after the next release, it should be able to update with `yt-dlp -U` )
yt-dlp_x86_Windows-XP_onedir.zip > yt-dlp_x86_winXP.zip

Direct links:
https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86_winXP.exe
https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86_winXP.zip

For Windows Vista, new update here.

[j7n]

I am using DLP 2025-08-20. SABR has gone away again for now and downloads work. It is not great that I need to wait some 10-20 seconds to see if download would start, but what can you do. I haven't seen very poor video quality again recently.

[user57]

actually i have often delays opening a youtube video with my win7 machine

it might actually has something to do with this but im not sure

useally it are around 10 seconds

that problem apeared rather recently

[nicolaasjan]

1 hour ago, user57 said:

actually i have often delays opening a youtube video with my win7 machine

it might actually has something to do with this but im not sure

useally it are around 10 seconds

that problem apeared rather recently

Try these experimental filters in Ublock Origin (I don't know if they are working with uBO Legacy...).
 

Quote

 

For slowly loading YouTube, TEST these filters:

www.youtube.com##+js(nano-stb, resolve(1), *, 0.001)
www.youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.EXPERIMENT_FLAGS.web_enable_ab_rsp_cl, false)
www.youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.EXPERIMENT_FLAGS.ab_pl_man, false)
||googlevideo.com/videoplayback$xhr,3p,method=get,domain=www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com/watch##+js(set, ytInitialData, undefined)

Use them at your own risk. Try them separately or in combination.

 

From:

https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1nf7heb/youtube_ads_detection_breakages_2025_megathread_2/

It worked for me in current Firefox.

</Offtopic>

[VistaLover]

On 8/26/2025 at 1:10 AM, Reino said:

One of which is "[ie/youtube] Replace ios with tv_simply in default clients (#14123)",
which is a real pity, because I prefer the ios HLS formats.
They've now flagged these formats as requiring a PO token, which (as far as I can tell) isn't true, because the 2025.08.20.232911 version I was using still works just fine for these formats.

I can confirm that the IOS formats still work to this day without supplying a PO Token string, at least for non-live YT content: 

yt-dlp --extractor-args "youtube:player_client=ios" -vf 270+234 -N 6 "O5TS2CbBhKo"

[debug] Command-line config: ['--ffmpeg-location', '<redacted>\\youtube-dl\\FFmpeg', '--downloader-args', 'ffmpeg:-v 8 -stats', '--extractor-args', 'youtube:player_client=ios', '-vf', '270+234', '-N', '6', 'O5TS2CbBhKo']
Deprecated Feature: Support for Python version 3.9 has been deprecated. Please update to Python 3.10 or above
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1253, fs utf-8, pref cp1253, out utf-8 (No VT), error utf-8 (No VT), screen utf-8 (No VT)
[debug] yt-dlp version nicolaasjan/yt-dlp@2025.08.20.060440 (win32_dir)
[debug] Python 3.9.13 (CPython x86 32bit) - Windows-Vista-6.0.6003-SP2 (OpenSSL 1.1.1w  11 Sep 2023)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg n6.1-dev-2615-N-112499-ga76b409 (setts), ffprobe n6.1-dev-2615-N-112499-ga76b409
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.1.0, certifi-2025.08.03, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.4, sqlite3-3.37.2, urllib3-2.5.0, websockets-15.0.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1839 extractors
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[youtube] Extracting URL: O5TS2CbBhKo
[youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Downloading webpage
[youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Downloading ios player API JSON
[debug] [youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: ios client https formats require a GVS PO Token which was not provided. They will be skipped as they may yield HTTP Error 403. You can manually pass a GVS PO Token for this client with --extractor-args "youtube:po_token=ios.gvs+XXX". For more information, refer to  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/PO-Token-Guide . To enable these broken formats anyway, pass --extractor-args "youtube:formats=missing_pot"
[youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Downloading m3u8 information
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
[info] Testing format 270
[download] Sleeping 6.00 seconds as required by the site...
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 45
[download] Destination: <redacted>\2025.08.20.60440[VistaEoL]\yt-dlp_py39_x86_Vista_onedir\tmpefmf2acs.tmp
[debug] File locking is not supported. Proceeding without locking
[download] 100% of  684.80KiB in 00:00:03 at 190.65KiB/s
[info] Testing format 234
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 45
[download] Destination: <redacted>\2025.08.20.60440[VistaEoL]\yt-dlp_py39_x86_Vista_onedir\tmpklhwl68j.tmp
[download] 100% of   85.49KiB in 00:00:00 at 240.81KiB/s
[info] O5TS2CbBhKo: Downloading 1 format(s): 270+234
[debug] Invoking hlsnative downloader on "https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_playlist/expire/1758487269/ei/hQ7QaPO9LYWahcIPjPHD0QM/ip/redacted/id/3b94d2d826c184aa/itag/270/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/ratebypass/yes/pfa/1/sgovp/clen%3D70853892%3Bdur%3D240.833%3Bgir%3Dyes%3Bitag%3D137%3Blmt%3D1746948976091491/rqh/1/hls_chunk_host/rr3---sn-4vguioxu-n3bl.googlevideo.com/xpc/EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D/met/1758465669,/mh/yJ/mm/31,29/mn/sn-4vguioxu-n3bl,sn-nv47lnsr/ms/au,rdu/mv/m/mvi/3/pl/18/rms/au,au/initcwndbps/1235000/bui/ATw7iSV_YS72GHNfobiXeJrmuWQRFLz3FoDYouFmm2Q9wIreg41H4rztQjVAmpYzwLmz_VnwsxtPkDaO/spc/hcYD5XitMHHlZg_xF73VMUq2RrPkDtQdXPmkW8Hhn2SLNLZwydZk-Dmz07CrUTO7/vprv/1/playlist_type/DVR/dover/13/txp/5319224/mt/1758465242/fvip/4/short_key/1/keepalive/yes/fexp/51552689,51565115,51565681,51580968/sparams/expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,requiressl,ratebypass,pfa,sgovp,rqh,xpc,bui,spc,vprv,playlist_type/sig/AJfQdSswRQIhALhXdXZkAmE7g4Z4_EgcYMniOkFycU5zuN3mEWILkAbPAiASJbP8PiIRLGXkmasLAYlV3cGalnknZdkAcTafLg0YAg%3D%3D/lsparams/hls_chunk_host,met,mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl,rms,initcwndbps/lsig/APaTxxMwRQIhAJ8DVEKSmJcwfp_UhLuA5TWdA76-8hLfzmwlCDAft8HjAiAiremKIHE528NiUf2bzY1vHmTE6qTE09cnwnt18SlVNw%3D%3D/playlist/index.m3u8"
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 45
[download] Destination: Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].f270.mp4
[download] 100% of   69.69MiB in 00:01:29 at 795.36KiB/s
[debug] Invoking hlsnative downloader on "https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_playlist/expire/1758487269/ei/hQ7QaPO9LYWahcIPjPHD0QM/ip/redacted/id/3b94d2d826c184aa/itag/234/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/ratebypass/yes/pfa/1/goi/133/sgoap/clen%3D3899667%3Bdur%3D240.907%3Bgir%3Dyes%3Bitag%3D140%3Blmt%3D1746948952157345/rqh/1/hls_chunk_host/rr3---sn-4vguioxu-n3bl.googlevideo.com/xpc/EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D/met/1758465669,/mh/yJ/mm/31,29/mn/sn-4vguioxu-n3bl,sn-nv47lnsr/ms/au,rdu/mv/m/mvi/3/pl/18/rms/au,au/initcwndbps/1235000/bui/ATw7iSV_YS72GHNfobiXeJrmuWQRFLz3FoDYouFmm2Q9wIreg41H4rztQjVAmpYzwLmz_VnwsxtPkDaO/spc/hcYD5XitMHHlZg_xF73VMUq2RrPkDtQdXPmkW8Hhn2SLNLZwydZk-Dmz07CrUTO7/vprv/1/playlist_type/DVR/dover/13/txp/5318224/mt/1758465242/fvip/4/short_key/1/keepalive/yes/fexp/51552689,51565115,51565681,51580968/sparams/expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,requiressl,ratebypass,pfa,goi,sgoap,rqh,xpc,bui,spc,vprv,playlist_type/sig/AJfQdSswRQIgdPOwtK4mbupwqiZ8pv2k9eOssn0NAajOdnMgB6ALDoACIQCadC6_b_5p64mwprXLRObgdNlTj2TQyIoBklDsdnPP9w%3D%3D/lsparams/hls_chunk_host,met,mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl,rms,initcwndbps/lsig/APaTxxMwRgIhAN16Z2-BpuDH8V9O3omjAFdhR7QMOi3pZAE4cBURjoE1AiEA-cqkk5eJf1-9TIR-1FPMUC1sIYujyXNiqgg8uYFr9Dc%3D/playlist/index.m3u8"
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 45
[download] Destination: Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].f234.mp4
[download] 100% of    3.75MiB in 00:00:05 at 758.19KiB/s
[debug] ffmpeg command line: <redacted>\FFmpeg\ffprobe -show_streams "file:Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].f234.mp4"
[Merger] Merging formats into "Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].mp4"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: <redacted>\FFmpeg\ffmpeg -y-loglevel repeat+info -i "file:Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].f270.mp4" -i "file:Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].f234.mp4" -c copy -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 -bsf:a:0 aac_adtstoasc -movflags +faststart "file:Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].temp.mp4"

Deleting original file Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].
f270.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Love and Money - Halleluiah Man (HQ Audio) [O5TS2CbBhKo].
f234.mp4 (pass -k to keep)

 ... whereas in more recent yt-dlp versions, the IOS formats are skipped  without supplying a PO Token string:

[debug] Command-line config: ['--ffmpeg-location', '<redacted>\\FFmpeg', '--downloader-args', 'ffmpeg:-v 8 -stats', '--extractor-args', 'youtube:player_client=ios', '-vf', '270+234', '-N', '6', 'O5TS2CbBhKo']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1253, fs utf-8, pref cp1253, out utf-8 (No VT), error utf-8 (No VT), screen utf-8 (No VT)
[debug] yt-dlp version nicolaasjan/yt-dlp@2025.09.17.084413 (win_x86_dir)
[debug] Python 3.11.4 (CPython x86 32bit) - Windows-Vista-6.0.6003-SP2 (OpenSSL 3.5.2 5 Aug 2025)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg n6.1-dev-2615-N-112499-ga76b409 (setts), ffprobe n6.1-dev-2615-N-112499-ga76b409
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.1.0, certifi-2025.08.03, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.5, sqlite3-3.50.4, urllib3-2.5.0, websockets-15.0.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1833 extractors
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[youtube] Extracting URL: O5TS2CbBhKo
[youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Downloading webpage
[youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Downloading ios player API JSON
WARNING: [youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: ios client https formats require a GVS PO Token which was not provided. They will be skipped as they may yield HTTP Error 403. You can manually pass a GVS PO Token for this client with --extractor-args "youtube:po_token=ios.gvs+XXX". For more information, refer to  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/PO-Token-Guide
WARNING: [youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: ios client hls formats require a GVS PO Token which was not provided. They will be skipped as they may yield HTTP Error 403. You can manually pass a GVS PO Token for this client with --extractor-args "youtube:po_token=ios.gvs+XXX". For more information, refer to  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/PO-Token-Guide
WARNING: Only images are available for download. use --list-formats to see them
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
ERROR: [youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Requested format is not available. Use --list-formats for a list of available formats
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1668, in wrapper
  File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1824, in __extract_info
  File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 1883, in process_ie_result
  File "yt_dlp\YoutubeDL.py", line 3023, in process_video_result
yt_dlp.utils.ExtractorError: [youtube] O5TS2CbBhKo: Requested format is not available. Use --list-formats for a list of available formats

I'm a proponent of the "The more the merrier" adage  , so perhaps @nicolaasjan could partially revert the upstream commit 895e762 (e.g. re-instate the IOS player_client into the default set (reverting GvsPoTokenPolicy to False), but also keep the new tv_simply client - affords ONLY dash formats), to keep his esteemed compatriot  (and, possibly, others) happier?  This modification (shouldn't be that hard, I feel) can be revisited if/when YT actually, completely, block IOS format download without a POT; just my 2 eurocents, ofc ...

[VistaLover]

On 9/3/2025 at 4:08 AM, VistaLover said:

NB: When using the Vista variants of py3.10.18/3.11.4 to compile yt-dlp_x86.exe for Vista, none of the wrapper DLLs (kernelxp.dll, ntext.dll, psapi.dll) are needed; because your resultant yt-dlp.exe binaries (for Vista) still contain file "psapi.dll", redundant on Vista ; come to think of it, I don't think file "ws2_xx.dll" is needed on Vista either,

Dearest @nicolaasjan, your latest Vista-compatible "yt-dlp.exe" binary offering (available at this link), of v2025.09.17.084413 and compiled with cmalex's py3.11.4_x86 assembly, still contains the psapi.dll file, which is, actually, not required in the Vista SP2 variant: 

(I have a PyInstaller plugin for 7-zip, thus the extractor can open (Read Mode, only) PyInstaller-created Windows executables, so that's how I know )

In a nutshell, to move from the XP variant of py3.11.4, 

https://mega.nz/folder/jst2WJ5B#sknEpEBamwPomx8UULWuMA/file/igNWhbCb

to the Vista variant, one must:

1. Delete all XP-targetting DLL wrappers, i.e. files 

KERNELxp.dll, ntext.dll, PSAPI.DLL, WS2_xx.dll

2. Overwrite the XP-targetting files 

python311.dll, _socket.pyd, _overlapped.pyd

with their Vista variants inside the "vista" dir.

3. Several other files inside the original archive I find are not needed for normal operations, e.g. 

libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll, libwinpthread-1.dll, msvcr100.dll, _freeze_module.exe, _testembed.exe

4. What's only missing for a successful python.exe launch on Vista SP2 is file vcruntime140.dll (if MSVC++2022 isn't already installed); a fully updated Vista SP2 install (up to Vista's EoL) shouldn't need any of the Win10UCRT files, either ("api-ms-win-*.dll", ucrtbase.dll) ...

What still puzzles me though, and this is a question for @cmalex to answer, if/when at all possible , is why v3.11.4 was chosen as the py3.11 port to XP/Vista+ ; 3.11.4 is a now deprecated and insecure py3.11 version; the PSF released the last bug-fix release in the form of v3.11.9 (the last for which official binaries were provided), while the latest security-fix release, in source-form only, is v3.11.13; now that I think of it, cmalex's py3.10.18 fork is a more "secure" assembly, since 3.10.18 is currently the latest security-fix release (in source-form only) of the 3.10 branch...

Thank you both immensely  for your on-going efforts towards keeping legacy WinOSes (XP/Vista) standing strong in 2025 and beyond!