[YouTube] Unable to extract uploader id

[Shituation]

This issue is solved: read the Description below
If you still want to comment after reading that, think again: first read this post below to avoid your comment being deleted or marked as spam.

Checklist

• I'm reporting a broken site support
• I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
• 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

Verbose log

[YouTube] Unable to extract uploader id

yt-dlp.exe" -x -4 --download-archive "C:\Youtube-dlp\download_history.txt" --external-downloader aria2c --restrict-filenames --match-filter "description*='ESTRENO'" --audio-format mp3 -o "E:\FOLDER\RENAME\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcusH7ksCNw&list=PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3&index=67" -v
[debug] Command-line config: ['-x', '-4', '--download-archive', 'C:\\Youtube-dlp\\download_history.txt', '--external-downloader', 'aria2c', '--restrict-filenames', '--match-filter', "description*='ESTRENO'", '--audio-format', 'mp3', '-o', 'E:\\A.PROCESAR\\RENAME\\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcusH7ksCNw&list=PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3&index=67', '-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version 2023.01.06 [6becd25] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.8.10 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.19044-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1k  25 Mar 2021)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-109541-g94aa70d757-20230109 (setts), ffprobe N-109541-g94aa70d757-20230109, phantomjs 2.1.1
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.16.0, brotli-1.0.9, certifi-2022.12.07, mutagen-1.46.0, sqlite3-2.6.0, websockets-10.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Loaded 1760 extractors
[debug] Loading archive file 'C:\\Youtube-dlp\\ download_history.txt'
[youtube:tab] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcusH7ksCNw&list=PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3&index=67
[youtube:tab] Downloading playlist PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3 - add --no-playlist to download just the video lcusH7ksCNw
[youtube:tab] PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3: Downloading webpage
[youtube:tab] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3
[youtube:tab] PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3: Downloading webpage
[youtube:tab] PLuXU-g7mjkKPvWSFq7xI_N4Xj7A3iSOU3: Redownloading playlist API JSON with unavailable videos
[download] Downloading playlist: LA VENGANZA SERÁ TERRIBLE (Programas)
[youtube:tab] Playlist LA VENGANZA SERÁ TERRIBLE (Programas): Downloading 67 items of 67
[download] Downloading item 1 of 67
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h5-QPbKoVg
[youtube] 3h5-QPbKoVg: Downloading webpage
[youtube] 3h5-QPbKoVg: Downloading android player API JSON
[debug] Loading youtube-nsig.1cbba2b4 from cache
WARNING: [youtube] 3h5-QPbKoVg: Native nsig extraction failed: Trying with PhantomJS
         n = GDZ_5inyZ3r6QSP ; player = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/1cbba2b4/player_ias.vflset/en_US/base.js
[debug] [youtube] Signature function returned an exception; please report this issue on  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using  yt-dlp -U
[youtube] 3h5-QPbKoVg: Executing signature code
[debug] [youtube] PhantomJS command line: phantomjs "--ssl-protocol=any" "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp88untizd"
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig GDZ_5inyZ3r6QSP => ECvndyupC0ex4A
ERROR: [youtube] 3h5-QPbKoVg: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using  yt-dlp -U
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 680, in extract
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\youtube.py", line 4049, in _real_extract
  File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 1228, in _search_regex

Description

[Revised by @dirkf]
OP actually reported the bug for yt-dlp.

The problem, which was revealed by a change in the metadata served by YouTube, applied to both youtube-dl and yt-dlp and has been fixed in both programs.

There is a release of yt-dlp that includes the fix. See #31535 for discussion of whether this would be a good choice for you.

See below for ways to update to a fixed version of youtube-dl. Using -U doesn't (yet) work. A new release may be created, including the final fix, some time later than now. There is now a nightly build from the latest code here: this is the recommended solution.

There's no point posting your log that shows the error now: feel free to thumb-up this post. Also, be aware that the initial patch still flagged the original issue as a WARNING; the fully fixed yt-dl doesn't. Consider raising a separate issue if your fixed yt-dl shows a different error.

[christianKuntz]

Same here; a more simplified sample command line and result to reproduce the issue is as follows:
I have a batch (.cmd in Windows), downloading multiple playlists' updates.
When the issue first occured, I have added .yt-dlp.exe -U as the first command, which did not help.
I just have created a single video command to ease reproduction.

Additional info: youtube-dl shows the same error without -v option; a subsequent attempt with -v added suddenly downloaded the video. So it might be hard to reproduce.
Suggestion: Can that be due to manfest.googlevideos.com temporarily being unreachable?
(I guess that from youtube-dl's verbose output when it worked)

My error sample:

...> .\yt-dlp.exe -v https://youtube.com/watch?v=hrpVKlj2QI0
[debug] Command-line config: ['-v', 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=hrpVKlj2QI0']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version 2023.01.06 [6becd25] (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.8.10 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-10-10.0.22621-SP0 (OpenSSL 1.1.1k 25 Mar 2021)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-109820-g2c4dcbd66b-20230210 (setts), ffprobe N-109820-g2c4dcbd66b-20230210, phantomjs 2.1.1
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.16.0, brotli-1.0.9, certifi-2022.12.07, mutagen-1.46.0, sqlite3-2.6.0, websockets-10.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Loaded 1760 extractors
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hrpVKlj2QI0
[youtube] hrpVKlj2QI0: Downloading webpage
[youtube] hrpVKlj2QI0: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] hrpVKlj2QI0: Downloading MPD manifest
ERROR: [youtube] hrpVKlj2QI0: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U

File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 680, in extract
File "yt_dlp\extractor\youtube.py", line 4049, in _real_extract
File "yt_dlp\extractor\common.py", line 1228, in _search_regex

[LucasAlmeida0]

Got the same issue here

[dmelladoc]

I'm having the same issue here. Using youtube-dl version 2021.12.17

It seems that youtube might have changed something internally.

youtube-dl --verbose https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=y6_TOFy3k6k
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6_TOFy3k6k']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.10.9 (CPython) - Linux-6.1.12-zen1-1-zen-x86_64-with-glibc2.37
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 5.1.2, ffprobe 5.1.2, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] y6_TOFy3k6k: Downloading webpage
ERROR: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type  youtube-dl -U  to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 836, in __extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 534, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 1794, in _real_extract
    'uploader_id': self._search_regex(r'/(?:channel|user)/([^/?&#]+)', owner_profile_url, 'uploader id') if owner_profile_url else None,
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 1012, in _search_regex
    raise RegexNotFoundError('Unable to extract %s' % _name)
youtube_dl.utils.RegexNotFoundError: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type  youtube-dl -U  to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

[Shituation]

Its probably a change on youtube's side and the indicated regex in the CLI, is obsolete now.
Not a coder here so I cannot help.

[nicolaasjan]

Already fixed in yt-dlp.
yt-dlp/yt-dlp#6247
yt-dlp/yt-dlp@149eb0b

[SoundsBetter]

It works for me from time to time

Python version 3.11.1 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.19044-SP0

C:\Users\dr7mu>C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\Scripts\youtube-dl --verbose https://youtu.be/PtcHNvVooLQ
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', 'https://youtu.be/PtcHNvVooLQ']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1251, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref cp1251
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.11.1 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.19044-SP0
[debug] exe versions: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] PtcHNvVooLQ: Downloading webpage
[youtube] PtcHNvVooLQ: Downloading MPD manifest
[debug] Default format spec: best/bestvideo+bestaudio
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://rr3---sn-npa3oxu-c0ns.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1676587820&ei=zF7uY_rJJciR1was1oPICw&ip=5.152.109.165&id=o-ADzBJJPVVVl-AU3mcvIsev5R0V1fTR01mJ_nuqSQx5Wm&itag=22&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=pV&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-npa3oxu-c0ns%2Csn-4g5lznlz&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=3&pl=24&initcwndbps=907500&vprv=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&ns=g4drxay16iE_vip8yIu0wmoL&ratebypass=yes&dur=1.904&lmt=1577620449803537&mt=1676565912&fvip=1&fexp=24007246&c=WEB&txp=6216222&n=c1FH5nfa5vHvkem&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cns%2Cratebypass%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRgIhAI-mZRq0fh65Jnpt1sCMDw35TI8IVWhW--gfmUg-YLWNAiEA7MCq4VJoeEW-LZOSJMOcEXxGK07GKwuYdVUZFXJ32Hg%3D&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AG3C_xAwRQIgN6wKZpbb1vDhJhiMB32tj8aTsYhtJZcSmhp8jj8qRGkCIQCzm2axUyvk7xLxaJBmt9WdiOOFDh1ZDwZdwptys1Rk7g%3D%3D'
[download] Destination: Wilhelm Scream (Iconic funny Scream) - Sound Effect for Editing-PtcHNvVooLQ.mp4
[download] 100% of 44.67KiB in 00:00

C:\Users\dr7mu>C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\Scripts\youtube-dl --verbose https://youtu.be/PtcHNvVooLQ
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', 'https://youtu.be/PtcHNvVooLQ']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1251, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref cp1251
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.11.1 (CPython) - Windows-10-10.0.19044-SP0
[debug] exe versions: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] PtcHNvVooLQ: Downloading webpage
[youtube] PtcHNvVooLQ: Downloading MPD manifest
ERROR: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see  https://yt-dl.org/update  on how to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\site-packages\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\site-packages\youtube_dl\YoutubeDL.py", line 836, in __extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\site-packages\youtube_dl\extractor\common.py", line 534, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\site-packages\youtube_dl\extractor\youtube.py", line 1794, in _real_extract
    'uploader_id': self._search_regex(r'/(?:channel|user)/([^/?&#]+)', owner_profile_url, 'uploader id') if owner_profile_url else None,
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\dr7mu\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\site-packages\youtube_dl\extractor\common.py", line 1012, in _search_regex
    raise RegexNotFoundError('Unable to extract %s' % _name)
youtube_dl.utils.RegexNotFoundError: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see  https://yt-dl.org/update  on how to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

I use one script in PyCharm and it works one time out of five

[nicolaasjan]

Line 2125 in youtube.py has to be changed into:

'uploader_id': self._search_regex(r'/(?:channel/|user/|@)([^/?&#]+)', owner_profile_url, 'uploader id', default=None),

Then no error: 😀️

youtube-dl --ignore-config -v -F 3h5-QPbKoVg
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--ignore-config', '-v', '-F', '3h5-QPbKoVg']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2023.02.16
[debug] Python version 3.8.10 (CPython) - Linux-5.4.0-139-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.29
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-109587-gfc263f073e-Nico-20230113, ffprobe N-109587-gfc263f073e-Nico-20230113, phantomjs 2.1.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] 3h5-QPbKoVg: Downloading webpage
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig EYI-o3YE_G0-1ue => nP7IbZDbhgRJ1Q
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig tdM1CX28FOA3Sbj => rEQZ02EpO5AMwg
[info] Available formats for 3h5-QPbKoVg:
format code  extension  resolution note
249          webm       audio only tiny   45k , webm_dash container, opus @ 45k (48000Hz), 28.44MiB
250          webm       audio only tiny   59k , webm_dash container, opus @ 59k (48000Hz), 37.15MiB
251          webm       audio only tiny  121k , webm_dash container, opus @121k (48000Hz), 76.11MiB
140          m4a        audio only tiny  129k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@129k (44100Hz), 80.87MiB
160          mp4        256x144    144p   13k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400c@  13k, 30fps, video only, 8.37MiB
278          webm       256x144    144p   19k , webm_dash container, vp9@  19k, 30fps, video only, 12.24MiB
133          mp4        426x240    240p   21k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4015@  21k, 30fps, video only, 13.53MiB
242          webm       426x240    240p   25k , webm_dash container, vp9@  25k, 30fps, video only, 16.15MiB
134          mp4        640x360    360p   35k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e@  35k, 30fps, video only, 21.92MiB
243          webm       640x360    360p   98k , webm_dash container, vp9@  98k, 30fps, video only, 61.30MiB
135          mp4        854x480    480p   49k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401f@  49k, 30fps, video only, 31.19MiB
244          webm       854x480    480p   96k , webm_dash container, vp9@  96k, 30fps, video only, 60.58MiB
136          mp4        1280x720   720p  124k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401f@ 124k, 30fps, video only, 77.71MiB
298          mp4        1280x720   720p60  175k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4020@ 175k, 60fps, video only, 109.36MiB
247          webm       1280x720   720p  214k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 214k, 30fps, video only, 133.80MiB
302          webm       1280x720   720p60  300k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 300k, 60fps, video only, 187.91MiB
299          mp4        1920x1080  1080p60  269k , mp4_dash container, avc1.64002a@ 269k, 60fps, video only, 168.53MiB
303          webm       1920x1080  1080p60  473k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 473k, 60fps, video only, 295.79MiB
18           mp4        640x360    360p  163k , avc1.42001E, 30fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz)
22           mp4        1280x720   720p  253k , avc1.64001F, 30fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz) (best)

Note:
OP's verbose log is from yt-dlp, not youtube-dl...

[Shituation]

Damn... why didn't those guys change the name to something less confusing.

Sorry.

[dirkf]

Working in git master:

$ python -m youtube_dl -o '%(uploader_id)s' --get-filename 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6_TOFy3k6k'
UCJ6o36XL0CpYb6U5dNBiXHQ
$

[christianKuntz]

for yt-dlp a fix is already documented and I could fix it by building the latest version;
the exact fix of the regex, performed by @bashonly is described here