Youtube downloaders quit working

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I have been through a series of Youtube downloaders which work for a while, then quit working. For a while I stayed with the Firefox downloaders, because Firefox is my preferred browser. But they kept failing. The latest issue is that I now have to choose to “Allow in private windows”. But even if I open a private window, my Youtube downloaders don’t work in Firefox.

I decided to try a Youtube downloader in Opera — VDP. It worked great for a while, then it simply quit working – no error message, it simply won’t download videos.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Is there something simple I have missed?

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I use 4K Video Downloader : https://www.4kdownload.com/products/product-videodownloader

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I installed 4K Video Downloader, then downloaded a Youtube video. It saved it as a 0 byte text file.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I’ve never tried using a private window intentionally (I’ve had them pop up when I fumbled a right-click), but I just tried out my downloaders, and they still work fine in Waterfox, and I’ve never had a problem with them in the past.  I want my history remembered, and other than that, I have my browser set (via extensions) to do all the things private mode does all the time.

Have you tried using regular, not private mode?  Or perhaps disabling all the other extensions, in case one is conflicting?

It’s interesting that it happens in Firefox and Opera, two browsers that are very different at their core.  Perhaps there is something like a VPN at work that is messing things up… do you have anything like that?

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Same thing happens whether I’m in Private or Non-Private mode – the downloader simply doesn’t do anything. It may save a zero-byte text file, or maybe not; but that’s all it does.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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MrJimPhelps wrote:
Does anyone know why this is happening? Is there something simple I have missed?

@MrJimPhelps

Don’t want to compose detailed reply, as site mod may choose to delete my post. Instead, may I simply observe that your personal experience appears to fit well with an established pattern…

https://www.zdnet.com/article/former-mozilla-exec-google-has-sabotaged-firefox-for-years/

https://vivaldi.com/blog/google-return-to-not-being-evil/

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Anonymous:

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if this were true. Ages ago, on their way to the top, Microsoft used to do this sort of thing to competitors. A couple of cases I heard about: (1) DR-DOS was a competitor to MS-DOS. I remember reading comments to the effect that Microsoft wrote code that woundn’t work as well under DR-DOS as it worked under MS-DOS, causing people to abandon DR-DOS. (2) WordPerfect used to complain that when Windows came out, Microsoft didn’t reveal all of the APIs to WordPerfect and others, causing WordPerfect for Windows to not perform as well as Word for Windows. At that time WordPerfect was the market leader for word processors; soon, Word overtook them and everyone else.

When you own the OS and the applications, your applications have an unfair advantage over all competitors. Because Microsoft owns the dominant OS, they should not be allowed to sell application software.

Google should be shut down as a company, and their assets sold and then distributed to those whose privacy has been violated by Google. Of course, every person who has ever been online has been spied on by Google, so I don’t know how much each person will get. But at least the biggest violator of our privacy will be shut down as a company.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

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If by a “downloader” means “software used to download and save on a computer”, then I have been using “Clipgrab” without problems and for quite a while, with some frequency and without any interruptions I have noticed, for downloading and keeping copies of YouTube videos of music (some with moving pictures, some with static ones).

I use it on my Mac, but there are versions for Windows as well as for Linux, including Ubuntu and its forks, such as Mint:

http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2013/07/install-clipgrab-ubuntu-linux-mint-ppa-repository/

If this is looked like a possible solution to the problem described by MrJimPhelps, then it might be worth a try.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Ascaris mentioned not having problems downloading video and using Waterfox. So I would like to add, in case this is part of the reason for my lack of problems downloading video, that I also use Waterfox as my default browser in Windows and in the Mac it is the one I use most of the time, including when downloading YouTube videos.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Perhaps it would help to create a new profile in Firefox and start fresh for a test, and install only the downloader extension.  You can easily create a new profile with about:profiles (which you probably already know).

The extension I use in Waterfox is “Youtube Video and Audio Downloader,” and it’s the same Webextensions version that is current for Firefox Quantum, so it should work in Firefox proper as well as Waterfox.  I had used the “legacy” addon version (which I prefer to call Classic addons) before, but it was giving me some issues, so I tried the Webextensions version, and it works fine.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Ascaris wrote:

The extension I use in Waterfox is “Youtube Video and Audio Downloader,” and it’s the same Webextensions version that is current for Firefox Quantum, so it should work in Firefox proper as well as Waterfox.

Be aware you will be sharing information with programs other than FF using this extension.

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I created a new profile, installed a new instance of Video Downloader Pro, and then attempted to download a Youtube video. It created a zero-byte file rather than the actual video.

I’m coming to the conclusion that Youtube is somehow blocking video downloads, because this continues to happen with every video downloader that I install.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Hello, I always used online converters. I saw your post here, tried it and started to cry silently, when error occured
They just do not work anymore.. Its like iPhone without headphones plug. So so sad..

Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise

HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29

PRUSA i3 MK3S+

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Can you give one or more examples of online converters that you currently use successfully?

Thanks.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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MrJimPhelps wrote:

I installed 4K Video Downloader, then downloaded a Youtube video. It saved it as a 0 byte text file.

Never happened to me. Usually I get to choose the the type of file and resolution with every download.
Example : COSTA RICA IN 4K 60fps HDR (ULTRA HD)

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There is an open source commandline video downloader just been updated today, might be worth a try:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/youtube_dl.html

The partnering UI is available with intergrated video options has also been updated today:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/ydl_ui.html

no affilliation with author/s etc..not tested myself

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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I too have used Clipgrab, on a Linux machine.  It works as advertised, can’t complain.

What makes me nervous about these downloaders is what else is possibly being “downloaded”.

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Now, not only can I not download Youtube videos, when I try to watch a video, it makes me verify that I am not a robot by going through the Captcha process and selecting every square that contains a certain picture!

I don’t know what Google is up to, but I don’t need Youtube that bad.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

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MrJimPhelps wrote:

I am not a robot by going through the Captcha process

This may happen if you don’t have a Google, Gmail… account.

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MrJimPhelps wrote:

I installed 4K Video Downloader, then downloaded a Youtube video. It saved it as a 0 byte text file.

After trying various other software, I’ve used 4K for quite a while. It worked so well I bought the pro version, as sometimes I download a lot of videos simultaneously.

This week I’ve used both single links and a text file of links, both working fine like always.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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I still use a 5Kb AutoHotkey front-end to the commandline youtube-dl.exe. I’ve just tried it and it works fine.

If you click on the link below it will open a GIF recording I made a few minutes ago showing me pasting a YouTube URL into a tiny GUI that I created using AHK then downloading the video:

QAD example

(The GIF is bigger than the 2MB file limit here and at tinypic.com so I’m hosting it in the public folder of my Google Drive. The link will open in a new browser tab.)

Hope this helps…

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Oh my goodness… I’ve just used Chocolatey to install youtube-dl-gui 0.4.

In just a few minutes I now have an excellent YouTube downloader… much better than my AHK effort.

Chocolatey is a commandline package manager and takes just a minute to install from an *elevated* command prompt or PowerShell console. youtube-dl-gui 0.4 is the package itself.

The installation of both took less than 5 minutes… and just worked straight-out-of-the-box.

Hope this helps…

3 users thanked author for this post.

MrJimPhelps, Lugh

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Rick Corbett wrote:

In just a few minutes I now have an excellent YouTube downloader… much better than my AHK effort.

When downloading Video how to you choose file type to save (mp4, mkv..) quality/resolution (4k hdr, full hd, hd…) like in https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/youtube-downloaders-quit-working/#post-1863457 ?

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@alex5723 – In Youtube-DLG’s Options (top-right of main GUI) you choose the file formats and quality you want by ticking the checkmarks against each choice.

These choices will then appear in the main GUI within the dropdown list(s).

Note that MKV is not available as a downloadable video format.

Hope this helps…

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Update:

I have found that I can download Youtube videos if I am in Windows, browsing with Firefox. The problem is when I am in Linux Mint, browsing with Firefox or with Opera. Therefore, for now I will simply click over to my Windows 8.1 VM to download a video.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I just thought of something.  Maybe the permissions do not allow read-write access in the folder into which the downloader is trying to save.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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To my knowledge there are no permission restrictions on the download folder – I don’t download to a user’s download folder, but rather to a folder that is outside of all of the user folders. A permissions issue would have showed up a long time ago, that is, these downloaders would never have worked in the first place. But they did work for a while.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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YouTube is definitely not blocking downloads of videos. For example: Today I downloaded some 3 hours of piano music saved as mp4 files (Rachmaninoff and Scriabin’s played by some good but not very well known musicians, at least to me). Yesterday, much the same, with music of Ravel. Not a hitch and the most that took was some half hour for the longest one. Those today had a basic animation, where the sheet music is shown, so one can read as well as listen to the music, and the pages are flipped as the action moves from one to the next. But I have downloaded this month the whole Passion According to St. Matthew with a video of the orchestra and choir’s performance. That took some 40 minutes to download.

I used ClipGrab in my Mac, but there is a version for Windows and another for Linux (this last bit I have already mentioned further up, in an earlier entry.)

 

 

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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I use “VDP” and “Youtube Downloader MP3 and Videos HD” in both Windows and Linux Mint. I can successfully download videos while browsing in Windows, but not while browsing in Mint.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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If you decided to try ClipGrab  with Linux Mint, I would be interested to know how that works out.

It has a very straightforward graphical interface and it is very easy to set up. It does not work as a browser add-on, but independently of any of browser. I first locate a video I would like to download using a browser (usually Waterfox), copy the URL and paste it in a field in the GUI of ClipGrab. I then click a button labelled “Grab this clip”, and that opens a small dialog box that asks me where I want to save the clip. I direct it to a folder I have created and labelled “Videos”, press on a button labelled “Download” —  and that is that. A horizontal blue bar and a percentage number at the top of the screen show the download’s progress. ClipGrab is designed for downloading videos from YouTube and it is for free, as are its occasional updates. I recommend it not only because it works as it should, but also because, so far, after more than a year, it is the less troublesome application that I use, bar none.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

I downloaded some 3 hours of piano music saved as mp4 files

On the slight chance you’re not aware Oscar: you can download only the music as MP3 from YouTube MP4 files. Useful for slower internet connections, or transferring to a playback device with limited storage.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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Also useful if you want to listen to the music in your car. You don’t need video while driving, only sound.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Here is one I use quite a bit on my windows machine w/Firefox.

Not sure how well it will work for you MrJim.  It might be worth a try.

https://ytmp3.cc/

Paste YT link, select mp3 or mp4 option before clicking the convert button.

It will check, load & convert.

Then the final options are download, dropbox, convert next.

Just tested both mp3 & mp4 options & it is working fine.

Win 8.1 (home & pro) Group B, W10/11 Avoider, Linux Dabbler

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MrJimPhelps

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Update:

I have found a way to download Youtube videos while in Linux Mint, and while browsing with Firefox:

Go into Youtube and find the video you want to download.

Open a second browsing window, and enter the video’s web address:

For example:

You can then select the resolution and file format (either WEBM or MP4). If you want MP4, you will find that there are two choices for each resolution: make sure you select the 2nd choice; for example, for 360P, pick the 2nd one in the list (the bigger one). The 1st choice (the smaller one) is silent video, and the 2nd choice (the bigger one) is video with sound.

It will save to your browser’s download folder. Once it has completed downloading, go to the download folder and rename it to what you want.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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MrJimPhelps wrote:

I installed 4K Video Downloader, then downloaded a Youtube video. It saved it as a 0 byte text file.

Just tested 4KDownloader with YouTube. Works as it should.

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