[GH-ISSUE #875] Allow a way for user to download the raw info json video data from a given instance. #1948

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GiteaMirror · 2026-04-11T06:21:02-05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 06:21:02 -05:00

Originally created by @barkoder on GitHub (Oct 31, 2024).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/issues/875

describe the feature you'd like to see

cobalt seems to be – at the moment at least – the only service that's able to somehow get past YT's age-restriction for some videos.

The problem is #647 . Downloads getting interrupted mid transmission, and ffmpeg can't switch proxies and continue muxing where it 403 errored.

This issue also happens when I use yt-dlp(for non age restricted vids), but it works when I switch to a different IP to download the file using the same info.json .

However, yt-dlp fails to download age-restricted videos at the moment.

But cobalt works.

So I was wondering if you could allow a way for the user to grab the raw info.json (yt-dlp --write-info-json) file that cobalt used to crawl a YT video's webpage?
This would be especially useful for age restricted vids. The user may then use yt-dlp --load-info-json (or some other software) to cycle through IPs and eventually successfully download the video.

Thanks!

additional context

No response

Originally created by @barkoder on GitHub (Oct 31, 2024). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/issues/875 ### describe the feature you'd like to see cobalt seems to be – at the moment at least – the only service that's able to somehow get past YT's age-restriction for *some* videos. The problem is #647 . Downloads getting interrupted mid transmission, and ffmpeg can't switch proxies and continue muxing where it 403 errored. This issue also happens when I use yt-dlp(for non age restricted vids), but it works when I switch to a different IP to download the file using the same info.json . However, yt-dlp fails to download age-restricted videos at the moment. But cobalt works. So I was wondering if you could allow a way for the user to grab the raw info.json (`yt-dlp --write-info-json`) file that cobalt used to crawl a YT video's webpage? This would be especially useful for age restricted vids. The user may then use `yt-dlp --load-info-json` (or some other software) to cycle through IPs and eventually successfully download the video. Thanks! ### additional context _No response_

GiteaMirror added the feature request label 2026-04-11 06:21:02 -05:00

GiteaMirror closed this issue

2026-04-11 06:21:02 -05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 06:21:03 -05:00

@wukko commented on GitHub (Oct 31, 2024):

have you tried https://cobalt.tools/settings/video#youtube-hls ? it doesn’t cut off videos for me

@wukko commented on GitHub (Oct 31, 2024): have you tried https://cobalt.tools/settings/video#youtube-hls ? it doesn’t cut off videos for me

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 06:21:04 -05:00

@barkoder commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2024):

Hi, thanks for that suggestion, but I tested 7 videos. It randomly cut off 2 of them. It's inconsistent.

If I had access to the info.json , I could just download the vids straight off of YT.

@barkoder commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2024): Hi, thanks for that suggestion, but I tested 7 videos. It randomly cut off 2 of them. It's inconsistent. If I had access to the info.json , I could just download the vids straight off of YT.

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 06:21:04 -05:00

@wukko commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2024):

we’re not gonna do that, there’s no “info.json” in the first place

@wukko commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2024): we’re not gonna do that, there’s no “info.json” in the first place

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Reference: github-starred/cobalt#1948