# Unable to add youtube videos **URL:** \ **Category:** Anthias\ **Created:** [June 12, 2019, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93 "2019-06-12T08:45:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![agentdogit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b4bc9f/32.png) [@agentdogit](https://forums.screenly.io/u/agentdogit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/1 "2019-06-12T08:45:28Z")
Hi there I am getting the following error message when trying to add any youtube video Server Error: Command '[‘youtube-dl’, ‘-e’, u’[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr9eAtwcYlo’]’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr9eAtwcYlo'%5D') returned non-zero exit status 1 any ideas? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![akimdarov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@akimdarov](https://forums.screenly.io/u/akimdarov)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/2 "2019-06-13T07:53:39Z")
Hi, I was facing the same issue lately - looks like the youtube downloader in screenly OSE is outdated. Check out: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#installation `sudo -H pip install --upgrade youtube-dl` and a reboot fixed it for me. Cheers, Albert ---
**Author:** ![vpetersson](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forums.screenly.io/vpetersson/32/8_2.png) [@vpetersson](https://forums.screenly.io/u/vpetersson)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 10:13am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/3 "2019-06-13T10:13:20Z")
That sounds like the proper soloution, @akimdarov. I imagine that “youtube-dl” is essentially playing Whac-A-Mole with the YouTube team. YouTube blocks them and “youtube-dl” works around it. ---
**Author:** ![agentdogit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b4bc9f/32.png) [@agentdogit](https://forums.screenly.io/u/agentdogit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 10:30am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/4 "2019-06-13T10:30:52Z")
sorted it now i reimaged the sd card with the latest version and all is good now Thanks for your help chaps ---
**Author:** ![agentdogit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b4bc9f/32.png) [@agentdogit](https://forums.screenly.io/u/agentdogit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/5 "2020-01-23T17:18:55Z")
Hi I am having issues again downloading any YouTube videos now, any ideas? ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/screenly/original/1X/9e7a0a98bde4afe42fde373ca28f745a5dcc6b29.png) ---
**Author:** ![vpetersson](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forums.screenly.io/vpetersson/32/8_2.png) [@vpetersson](https://forums.screenly.io/u/vpetersson)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 7:27am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/6 "2020-12-24T07:27:01Z")
My money would be on that it’s either an outdated `youtube-dl` or a broken SD card. I’d suggest starting a fresh with a new SD card and the latest developer version. ---
**Author:** ![tekmedia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@tekmedia](https://forums.screenly.io/u/tekmedia)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 3:47am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/8 "2022-03-08T03:47:09Z")
use 4kdownloader (google it to find their site) to grab the video from YT and then upload it as a regular video. Never have to deal with YT whackamole again. Note, that a lot of videos require you to log into YT (google) and 4KDL has the ability to do that in settings. it has a 99% success rate if you do this. ---
**Author:** ![greenBucket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@greenBucket](https://forums.screenly.io/u/greenBucket)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/9 "2023-03-13T20:20:04Z")
Hello, I installed a fresh copy of raspbian (based on Debian Bullseye). I then installed Anthias following the [command mentioned in this link](https://github.com/Screenly/Anthias). Which is: > $ bash \<(curl -sL [https://install-anthias.srly.io](https://install-anthias.srly.io)) After installation, Anthias came up. I access it via web, yet I can’t download from youtube. If I drop a youtube URL into the Add Asset modal, I get a modal (pop-up) stating: > Server Error: Command ‘[‘youtube-dl’, ‘-e’, ‘ht tp s://w ww.youtu be.c om/watch?v=1234’]’ returned non-zero exit status 1. Any idea what I can try? I tried updating youtube-dl with the command mentioned above: > `sudo -H pip install --upgrade youtube-dl` Yet it did not work. Any thoughts? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![greenBucket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@greenBucket](https://forums.screenly.io/u/greenBucket)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/10 "2023-03-14T14:29:22Z")
So from what I have gathered, the program youtube-dl hasn’t gotten a new release since December 2021 (over a year as of today 2023-03-14). The alternative is the program yt-dlp, which is a close fork. The [installation instructions for yt-dlp are here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation). Yet, the Anthias program still calls on youtube-dl. I installed yt-dlp. Then inside /usr/local/bin, I had two binaries: youtube-dl and yt-dlp. I copied yt-dlp over youtube-dl inside /usr/local/bin. Now, if I call youtube-dl --version I get a 2023.03.04 version (because it really is yt-dlp). Yet Anthias via web-browser still fails with the error pop-up (modal): > Server Error: Command ‘[‘youtube-dl’, ‘-e’, ‘ht tp s://w ww.youtu be.c om/watch?v=1234’]’ returned non-zero exit status 1. Any idea how I can upgrade the youtube-dl that Anthias uses? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![nicomiguelino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nicomiguelino](https://forums.screenly.io/u/nicomiguelino)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 5:38am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/11 "2023-03-16T05:38:01Z")
Hi, @greenBucket! Maybe the old `youtube-dl` binary is still being recognized. The `youtube-dl` binary is currently installed via `pip`. You can check out the requirements file at [`requirements/requirements.txt`](https://github.com/Screenly/Anthias/blob/9000460f85559f1dae64ac88e9b6a8836d195726/requirements/requirements.txt#L42). ```auto ... youtube-dl>=2021.12.17 ... ``` What you can do is… - remove/comment out the `youtube-dl` definition, - edit [docker/Dockerfile.server.tmpl](https://github.com/Screenly/Anthias/blob/9000460f85559f1dae64ac88e9b6a8836d195726/docker/Dockerfile.server.tmpl) or [docker/Dockerfile.base.tmpl](https://github.com/Screenly/Anthias/blob/9000460f85559f1dae64ac88e9b6a8836d195726/docker/Dockerfile.base.tmpl) so that `yt-dlp` will be installed. Make sure to copy `yt-dtp` as `youtube-dl` if you don’t want to modify [lib/utils.py](https://github.com/Screenly/Anthias/blob/9000460f85559f1dae64ac88e9b6a8836d195726/lib/utils.py) (where the call to `youtube-dl` is executed). - re-build the docker images, and restart the services/containers. Feel free to create a PR if you’d like. ---
**Author:** ![vpetersson](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forums.screenly.io/vpetersson/32/8_2.png) [@vpetersson](https://forums.screenly.io/u/vpetersson)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 7:11am UTC](https://forums.screenly.io/t/unable-to-add-youtube-videos/93/12 "2026-06-09T07:11:06Z")
The problem was the tool Anthias used to download YouTube videos, which kept breaking whenever YouTube changed their site. Anthias now uses a newer, actively maintained downloader, and it shows a clear message on the item if a download ever fails. Adding a YouTube link now just downloads the video in the background. Marking this as solved.