The VideoLAN Forums

Hi, I can not seem to get any video on youtube to play.

when i hit media|open|open network stream and enter this [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNrFm_1jgao[/url] and click on play, I see on flicker of a pic and then nothing.

Please see log file below.

Thanks

I found the same problem start only a couple of weeks ago. It seemed initially to be with only a few videos, but now seems to be every one.
VLC version is "3.0.8 Vetinari" dated 14th August 2019.

i have the same version.

thanks

The instructions in the first link given here fixed this for me!
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=151896&p=499858#p499716

Repeated here for convenience:

If the videos list appears in the Vlc "playlist" view but the videos won't start, follow this steps:
1) delete the file "youtube.luac" in [vlc directory]/lua/playlist directory (ex: c:Program FilesVideoLANVLCluaplaylistyoutube.luac)
2) get the latest version of thr "youtube" script from here:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua
3) place the file in the directory [vlc directory]/lua/playlist (where "youtube.luac" was)

works like a charm!

thanks

G'Day Daiyan,
This is probably going to sound like a very dumb question but here goes.

I followed your steps above and after a bit of messing around I got VLC to play YouTube clips, so thank you for your guidance.

However, is there a smarter way to copy the script at the site above as a youtube.luac file? I copied the script, saved it to a notpad file, which put a .txt extention on it, so I then renamed the file. Is there a better way to do this?

Also, if this problem occurs again, as I'm sure changes will be made to prevent VLC playing these files, is ithe above link likely to be updated to keep ahead of this problem?

Cheers Ron

I truly appreciate your help and solution to this problem, but I'm not all that tech savvy and have no idea what to do with this script. You said to paste it into the playlist directory, but there's no way to paste it in there. And then the comment here above mine makes me think there must be more to getting the script to work.

Please help with these instructions because I don't get a paste option. Paste is shaded out and won't let me do it.

VideoMizz,

1. You save this file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua somewhere to a temp location (like, your Desktop)
1.1 While saving, it's important to save not as Text document, which seems to be the default way the browser will suggest
1.1.1 If your operating system is Windows 10, to achieve that, you can do the following:

• Hit Win-S hotkey, a search window will appear

• Type in cmd, then Command Prompt will appear as the best match in the left pane

• Hit Enter, then the black command window will appear

• Type cd Desktop

• Type curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua

• The download will start and then very soon stop, and the file will be appear at your Desktop

• Type exit, and the window will close

2. Now, you go to this VLC's folder, which is usually C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\playlist
3. Locate file youtube.luac there and delete it
4. Move the file youtube.lua you've just saved to your Desktop to that folder
5. Launch VLC, YouTube links should work now

opening https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua in firefox and doing a file and save as gets me: youtube.lua in downloads/

I know this is a old post but i have this problem now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGdoJpCoItg
above link wont play in vlc V 3.0.11
Error log
"lua warning: Couldn't extract video URL, falling back to alternate youtube API
http error: local stream 1 error: Cancellation (0x8)
lua error: Couldn't process youtube video URL, please check for updates to this script
access error: HTTP 403 error"
I want to down load the high res not just 720p version (but torch browser will only dload 720)
I have followed all the above suggestions !
However if i use the link from the torch download page
"https://r7---sn-uxanug5-ntqe7.googlevid ... MIHQ%3D%3D"
(some link eh!)
It plays but only 720
Note the youtube clip has many resolutions

The youtube link you posted is the one to the page the video is located on not the video itself. If you want to stream yt videos you should always click the SHARE button underneath the video which will give you the direct link to the video. In this particular case that's https://youtu.be/OGdoJpCoItg

Here's a pix of your video playing in vlc.




(click to enlarge)

If in spite of doing the above you still get the same error it's because the youtube.luac file on your system is out of date and needs to be replaced. Follow instruction in this post to create a new one: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 26#p483226

The youtube link you posted is the one to the page the video is located on not the video itself. If you want to stream yt videos you should always click the SHARE button underneath the video which will give you the direct link to the video. In this particular case that's https://youtu.be/OGdoJpCoItg

Here's a pix of your video playing in vlc.




(click to enlarge)

If in spite of doing the above you still get the same error it's because the youtube.luac file on your system is out of date and needs to be replaced. Follow instruction in this post to create a new one: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 26#p483226

Thanks for the reply
Can play the videos Ok now