yt-dlp: [youtube] Stuck in infinite loop grabbing API JSON on channels

ytdl-errorapi.txt

Checklist

• I’m reporting a broken site
• I’ve verified that I’m running yt-dlp version 2021.11.10.1. (update instructions)
• 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. DO NOT post duplicates
• I’ve read the guidelines for opening an issue
• I’ve read about sharing account credentials and I’m willing to share it if required

Region

North America or Worldwide

Description

I did my best to search the bug tracker but couldn’t find anything about this.

I am getting stuck in seemingly infinite loops where the youtube extractor tries to download the API JSON for channels. This bug does not appear to be channel specific, it simply triggers after either going through multiple other channels, or randomly with a single channel. I am unsure if it’s some kind of blackholing effect as a limiter.

Please see the verbose log for an example. The linked channel does not have over 1000 pages, let alone over 100.

This also occurs with other channels, it’s random. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Jj_A0NjP2vtcZZvvYU7qw/videos or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnFP0IU4gpnmcLnVzDLUtfw

I’ve tried grabbing with different IPs over VPNs or powercycling my modem, with no change.

I can provide more details when needed. Thanks!

Verbose log

$ yt-dlp -Uv --config-location ./youtube-dl.conf
[debug] Command-line config: ['-vvv', '--config-location', './youtube-dl.conf']
[debug] Custom config file: ./youtube-dl.conf
[debug] Custom config: ['-f', 'bestvideo[ext=webm]+bestaudio[ext=webm]/bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=webm]/bestvide
o+bestaudio', '-i', '-o', '/mnt/youtubedl/%(uploader)s (%(uploader_id)s)/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s - [%(resolution)s] [%(id)s].%(ext)s', '--ffmpeg-location', '/usr/local/bin/', '--no-write-playlist-metafiles', '--concurrent-fragments', '16', '--downloader-args', '-x 16 -s 16', '--retries', '20', '--download-archive', '/mnt/youtubedl/youtube-dl-archive.txt', '-a', '/mnt/youtubedl/youtube-dl-channels.txt', '--merge-output-format', 'mkv', '--write-sub', '--all-subs', '--convert-subs', 'srt', '--add-metadata', '--write-description', '--write-thumbnail', '-v']
[debug] Batch file urls: ['https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w',]
WARNING: --downloader-args given without specifying name. The arguments will be given to all external downloaders
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, err UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] yt-dlp version 2021.11.10.1 (zip)
[debug] Python version 3.7.3 (CPython 64bit) - Linux-5.10.0-0.bpo.8-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-10.11
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.2.1 (fdk), ffprobe 4.2.1
[debug] Optional libraries: Crypto, keyring, sqlite
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Loading archive file '/mnt/youtubedl/youtube-dl-archive.txt'
yt-dlp is up to date (2021.11.10.1)
[debug] [youtube:tab] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w
WARNING: [youtube:tab] A channel/user page was given. All the channel's videos will be downloaded. To download only th
e videos in the home page, add a "/featured" to the URL
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube:tab] Final URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w/videos
[download] Downloading playlist: Grace Motley - Videos
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 2: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 3: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 4: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 5: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 6: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 7: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 8: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 9: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 10: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 11: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 12: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 13: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 14: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 15: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 16: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 17: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 18: Downloading API JSON
[...]
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1638: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1639: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1640: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1641: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1642: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1643: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1644: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1645: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1646: Downloading API JSON
[youtube:tab] UCyduf4VRZnF7RXSrqqexX5w page 1647: Downloading API JSON
^C
ERROR: Interrupted by user