Who here has a Youtube-DL compile for WinXP?

[nicolaasjan]

My releases have just been updated.

 

Quote

 

[ie/youtube] Fix default player clients (#15726)

* Add `ios_downgraded` player client

*Remove `android_sdkless` player client

Closes #15712 Authored by: bashonly

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by nicolaasjan

[VistaLover]

On 1/28/2026 at 11:27 PM, VistaLover said:

2026 is definitely NOT a good year so far, it seems...

More bad news (wrt YT and yt-dlp)  : 

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/11868#issuecomment-2560431566

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EDIT/UPDATE (2026/01/29):

YouTube is experimenting with some sort of new aggressive IP-based block on videoplayback urls - perhaps to replace or complement the existing "sign in to confirm you are not a bot" error on the player endpoint. This produces an HTTP 403 error on videoplayback urls, regardless of client and protocol (HTTPS, DASH, HLS, UMP, SABR, ONESIE).

If you are seeing this for the first time, backing off further downloading/requests for a little while may help to lift it. It is recommended to make use of the yt-dlp sleep options to help avoid it.

Otherwise, you might need to change IP.

Update: this comment for more details.

With the changes YouTube has been pushing recently, it is likely the out-of-the-box YouTube format support for yt-dlp will become more limited. To retain format support, we recommend looking into providing PO Tokens to yt-dlp.

Oh, BTW, the `--live-from-start` feature on LIVE YT streams is now BROKEN, too  : 

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/15751

(if you ask me, it's all-out-war Google  have unleashed against the YT-downloading apps, but it appears they have their focus especially on yt-dlp  ) .

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Major bummer!

I've never actually used yt-dlp, but there is certainly a VERY large following.

I guess that shows the popularity of yt-dlp, the ONLY reason Google would "unleash" would be if TENS OF THOUSANDS of videos are being downloaded using this method.

Google really wouldn't "care" if we were talking a few here, a few there.  Or they're looking at it from how many PER DAY are "abusing the system", so to speak.

Edited 5 hours ago by NotHereToPlayGames

[VistaLover]

On 1/28/2026 at 6:35 PM, VistaLover said:

I'll say that the ANDR-S formats are unreliable (YMMV): 

As attested already by @j7n, ALL ANDR-S formats are now being 403'd  ; in latest yt-dlp releases (stable, nightly, master update channels), the ANDR-S client has been removed: 

Quote

(official) master >= 2026.01.29.65728

By default, `android_vr, ios_downgraded, web, web_safari` is used. 
If no JavaScript runtime/engine is available, then `android_vr, ios_downgraded` is used. 

If logged-in cookies are passed to yt-dlp, then `tv_downgraded, web, web_safari` is used for free accounts and `tv_downgraded, web_creator, web` is used for premium accounts. 

The `web_music` client is added for `music.youtube.com` URLs when logged-in cookies are used. 
The `web_embedded` client is added for age-restricted videos but only works if the video is embeddable. 
The `tv_embedded` and `web_creator` clients are added for age-restricted videos if account age-verification is required. 
Some clients, such as `web` and `web_music`, require a `po_token` for their formats to be downloadable. 
Some clients, such as `web_creator`, will only work with authentication. Not all clients support authentication via cookies. 

You can use `default` for the default clients, or you can use `all` for all clients (not recommended). You can prefix a client with `-` to exclude it, e.g. `youtube:player_client=default,-ios`

 

18 hours ago, nicolaasjan said:

(JS runtime required)

The ios client m3u8 (aka HLS) formats are NOT behind an n/sig challenge, so a JS runtime shouldn't be needed for them, unless you also want the WEB-S client's m3u8 formats ...

17 hours ago, nicolaasjan said:

Well, I got it from a forum from a large country that is currently under heavy sanctions. 😳

Link to post.

Thanks ; that rules out, then, directly asking them for a NT 6.0 compatible version  ? (though I later realised that a "certain" member is there, too  ...)

17 hours ago, nicolaasjan said:

Maybe you can wake him up? 

I'll probably will, but likely over the coming weekend ...

Thanks for your precious time supporting "legacy" Windows OSes - you're a true hero  ...

Edited 5 hours ago by VistaLover

[j7n]

The latest update to yt-dlp works out of the box again with an "ios downgraded" method. And there no sleep. They recommend it now, but there isn't. I didn't know you could use those conditionals [height<=1080][ext=mp4] which would help with changing format numbers.

Can you point me to instructions about how to use a "JS runtime" with yt-dlp on Win Seven? Is this an exe I drop or is there more to it?