[YouTube] Initial player response is not valid when trying to watch videos on some networks/IPs

[proteusblack]

Checklist

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest version given here: CLICK THIS LINK.
• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Affected version

0.25.2

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Download Newpipe from F-droid and install as normal
2. Open Newpipe as normal and click on any video at all

Expected behavior

Should play the video.

Actual behavior

Unfortunately, it gives a parsing error.

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

Logs

Exception

• User Action: requested stream
• Request: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doTGDc1SoOE
• Content Country: US
• Content Language: en-US
• App Language: en_US
• Service: YouTube
• Version: 0.25.2
• OS: Linux samsung/r8qsqx/r8q:13/TP1A.220624.014/G781USQUCHWH4:user/release-keys 13 - 33

Crash log

org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.exceptions.ExtractionException: Initial player response is not valid
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.services.youtube.extractors.YoutubeStreamExtractor.onFetchPage(YoutubeStreamExtractor.java:872)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.Extractor.fetchPage(Extractor.java:60)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfo.getInfo(StreamInfo.java:78)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfo.getInfo(StreamInfo.java:73)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper.lambda$getStreamInfo$3(ExtractorHelper.java:119)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper.$r8$lambda$YTHJjScxCJNO1LTCqs3IKy35iyY(ExtractorHelper.java:0)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper$$ExternalSyntheticLambda3.call(R8$$SyntheticClass:0)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleFromCallable.subscribeActual(SingleFromCallable.java:43)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleDoOnSuccess.subscribeActual(SingleDoOnSuccess.java:35)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeFromSingle.subscribeActual(MaybeFromSingle.java:41)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Maybe.subscribe(Maybe.java:5377)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray$ConcatMaybeObserver.drain(MaybeConcatArray.java:153)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray$ConcatMaybeObserver.request(MaybeConcatArray.java:78)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.flowable.FlowableElementAtMaybe$ElementAtSubscriber.onSubscribe(FlowableElementAtMaybe.java:66)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray.subscribeActual(MaybeConcatArray.java:42)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Flowable.subscribe(Flowable.java:16013)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.flowable.FlowableElementAtMaybe.subscribeActual(FlowableElementAtMaybe.java:36)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Maybe.subscribe(Maybe.java:5377)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeToSingle.subscribeActual(MaybeToSingle.java:46)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleSubscribeOn$SubscribeOnObserver.run(SingleSubscribeOn.java:89)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Scheduler$DisposeTask.run(Scheduler.java:644)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.run(ScheduledRunnable.java:65)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.call(ScheduledRunnable.java:56)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
	at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:307)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1137)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:637)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1012)

---

Affected Android/Custom ROM version

13

Affected device model

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE SG

Additional information

No response

[AudricV]

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest version given here: CLICK THIS LINK

You are not using the latest version. Please update to the latest version before opening a new issue.

There is nothing we can do, YouTube seems to ban (by mistake probably) logged-out access to its videos on mobile data IPs, according to several reports on Reddit and X/Twitter.

Could you please update to 0.26.1 and confirm this behavior by opening YouTube's website in a private window of a web browser connected on the IP you're using to stream NewPipe (so the web browser of your phone), and see if, when you try to watch a video on the website, after any ad, that you're getting a video with the message "This content isn't available" instead?

Then see if you can reproduce this with a Wifi connection.

[proteusblack]

Steps I now took:

• Upgraded to 0.26.1 using the custom repo
• Connected to a wifi connection
• Opened a private tab in Firefox on Android
• Opened YouTube.com and opened a video

Result: "This content is not available" message.

Same result with normal data connection.

[ABJ4403]

Try in NewPipe, it should throw an error, click see logs, the error message should explain why its not available

Also if you use custom "filteting" dns (especially AdGuard Family, which redirects www.youtube.com to restrictmoderate.youtube.com, this filters even normal videos which is weird), change it to something else (error msg might say something workspace related)

[proteusblack]

By logs, do you mean the error report? Because it just shows the same thing that it shows in the log I shared above.

I don't use any kind of filtering dns.

[AudricV]

Is the issue gone? I do not see anymore this issue posted here and on YouTube and NewPipe subreddits and a user edited their post saying that the issue has been fixed.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically closed because there has been no response to our request for more information from the original author. With only the information that is currently in the issue, we don't have enough information to take action. Please reach out if you have or find the answers we need so that we can investigate further.