The VideoLAN Forums

starting from this morning 3.0.17.4 stopped playing ANY youtube video
for example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGbAYhZoXgQ
can it be fixed?

Yes, same here, only some live streams are still playing fine.
I guess a new LUA script is needed, the latest one is from the 27th of July:
https://github.com/videolan/vlc/blob/ma ... outube.lua

On a side note, I've noticed Youtube is now automatically pausing the video in a browser if you don't allow cookies. Not sure if it's linked to the VLC problem though.

>I guess a new LUA script is needed, the latest one is from the 27th of July:
https://github.com/videolan/vlc/blob/ma ... outube.lua

did you try it? i did, but 3.0.17.4 still refuses to play youtube video... maybe i did something wrong?

As I said it's not working anymore except for some streams. So we need a new LUA script.

>As I said it's not working anymore except for some streams. So we need a new LUA script.
1) can we expect a new LUA script in the nearest future?
2) can you recommend me some alternative player for Win XP (WITH LOW CPU USAGE) that can handle current youtube?
thanks

The video URL in the OP works fine here on VLC 3.0.17.4 with the VLC YTDL(P) plug-in though. I have not actually tried with the Lua script, but I trust that it no longer works.

1) I guess not: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/ ... ote_341996 . In fact, it sounds like that this will not be possible to address with Lua scripts as supported in VLC 3.0.x.

2) Honestly, I don't know but I wouldn't connect a Windows XP system to the Internet in the first place in 2022.

>The video URL in the OP works fine here on VLC 3.0.17.4 with the VLC YTDL(P) plug-in though.

where do i download VLC YTDL(P) and how do i configure it? i am quite new to VLC and i BADLY need to solve the issue
thanks in advance
=============
is trhis what you mean?
https://github.com/mjasny/vlc-youtubeDL ... ube-dl.lua

As I said, I don't know of an alternative on Windows XP. I have not tried that particular plug-in, so I can't tell if it still works or not (I use vlc-plugin-ytdl instead but it's not available on XP).

can you recommend me some alternative player for Win XP (WITH LOW CPU USAGE) that can handle current youtube?

AFAIK no such player exists anymore for XP because:
1/ Most developpers have stopped making programs being XP compatible
2/ Nowadays most players rely on YT-DLP for playing Youtube and YT-DLP requires at least Vista SP2 for its x86 version.

where do i download VLC YTDL(P) and how do i configure it?

As I just said before, YT-DLP won't work on XP because it requires at least Vista SP2 for its x86 version and Windows 7 SP1 for the x64 version.
Face it: you can't run newer programs on XP anymore. So live with it or move on to Windows 7.


Other people who can run YT-DLP can use this batch file as a workaround:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 15#p495615

Of course, you have to replace youtube-dl.exe with yt-dlp.exe and to set the correct path to VLC.exe.

@cpm1a+_

Looks like you're kind of lucky, because I've done some tests and it appears that the last XP compatible version of YT-DLP can still extract video URLs from recent Youtube links!
You can download it here:
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releas ... lp_x86.exe

And then use the batch file I was talking about in my previous post.
Edit it to replace youtube-dl.exe with yt-dlp_x86.exe. Then run it and use the right click of your mouse for pasting the Youtube URL, and when it asks for the format I suggest to enter "22" (without quotes) for playing the 720p video, since I guess you are using an old generation PC.

thank you very much, Lotesdelere! i will right now try what you suggest
in the meanwhile i got yt-dlp.exe patched for WinXp! all i had to do was to rename it to youtube-dl.exe and put it in the SMPlayer root folder. very simple, no pasting Youtube URL, no "222"... it just works itself!

any way i can use this yt-dlp.exe for VLC as a simpler option?

all i had to do was to rename it to youtube-dl.exe and put it in the SMPlayer root folder. very simple, no pasting Youtube URL, no "222"... it just works itself!
any way i can use this yt-dlp.exe for VLC as a simpler option?

Yes, I know many players work that way, just drop YT-DLP.exe near the player EXE and it will instantly be operational.
Unfortunately not VLC, at least not VLC 3.x on Windows. Yet..?

I am confused from the responses here, with all the various window types. I am running windows 10....can someone assist in finding a fix for this issue. Not seeing anything about a LUA coming.

We are all waiting for a new LUA script.
Meanwhile, you can use the YT-DLP BAT file workaround I was talking about at the end of this post:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 37#p530837

>We are all waiting for a new LUA script.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/video ... outube.lua
thanx a lot!!! supisingly it works with WinXP

but i'm confused coz i previously asked:
>can we expect a new LUA script in the nearest future?

Rémi Denis-Courmont:
>I guess not. In fact, it sounds like that this will not be possible to address with Lua scripts as supported in VLC 3.0.x.

wil the LUA script still be constantly updated for 3.0.x./WinXP in the future? what can i hope for?

any news on a new lua?

Meanwhile, you can use the YT-DLP BAT file workaround I was talking about at the end of this post:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 37#p530837

How do you do this. i'm unfamiliar with how and where to add that.

How do you do this. i'm unfamiliar with how and where to add that.

You should just update the LUA script as explained here:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 26#p483226

And that won't work in all likelihood since the author said the last update was only meant to fix other issues.

I started having this trouble at weekend. So I tried the LUA suggestion but to no avail. I then decided to uninstall VLC from my PC, ensuring I got rid of every possible
located files/updates. So today, Monday 12 Sept 22, I downloaded VLC from Videolan assuming that the LUA would now be updated to enable Youtube videos to be streamed/played. But still the same problem, a quick yellow flash across the progress bar and then nothing. Is it possible that YouTube has 'forced' Videolan to change their code to stop downloading!

Oh it is not merely possible... It is certain that YouTube has been changed to break non-browser downloads.

Oh it is not possible... It is certain that YouTube has been changed to break non-browser downloads.

Looks like yt-dlp is the next target.



PhantomJS mentioned in the screenshot seems to be this one: https://phantomjs.org/

Not only YouTube; Nothing will run. After I paste in the video URL it does not play and so cannot be downloaded. Up to date.
Win 10 current; adequate hardware.

Uh, yes, it is only YouTube.

Looks like yt-dlp is the next target.

Of course, Google probably wants to block YT-DLP too, since it blocks ads and cookies just as much as VLC or anything else.

But yt-dlp still seems to work fine here, and since it has some Javascript support, it will be much more difficult for Google to block it. Furthermore YT-DLP is very focused and smaller than VLC, so it deliver updates faster than VLC (most VLC users won't be downloading the Lua script from Git web).

but then, what is happening is not a problem with the Player, but with the Lua script, right?