youtube-dl fails to download Facebook video on one server while working fine on the other for the same link

Make sure you are using the latest version: run youtube-dl --version and ensure your version is 2016.10.02. If it’s not read this FAQ entry and update. Issues with outdated version will be rejected.

• I’ve verified and I assure that I’m running youtube-dl 2016.10.02

Before submitting an issue make sure you have:

• At least skimmed through README and most notably FAQ and BUGS sections
• Searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

What is the purpose of your issue?

• Bug report (encountered problems with youtube-dl)
• Site support request (request for adding support for a new site)
• Feature request (request for a new functionality)
• Question
• Other

If the purpose of this issue is a bug report, site support request or you are not completely sure provide the full verbose output as follows:

$ youtube-dl --write-pages -j -v https://www.facebook.com/BoredPandaArt/videos/570024353184694/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--write-pages', u'-j', u'-v', u'https://www.facebook.com/BoredPandaArt/videos/570024353184694/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.10.02
[debug] Python version 2.7.8 - Linux-3.16.0-31-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-14.10-utopic
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 2.5.10-0ubuntu0.15.04.1, ffprobe 2.5.10-0ubuntu0.15.04.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
ERROR: Cannot parse data; 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/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 694, in extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 355, in extract
    return self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 352, in _real_extract
    video_id, fatal_if_no_video=True)
  File "/usr/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py", line 276, in _extract_from_url
    raise ExtractorError('Cannot parse data')
ExtractorError: Cannot parse data; 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.

Description of your issue, suggested solution and other information

First of all, youtube-dl is great piece of software and has worked flawlessly for a long time for me! Good job keeping up with ever changing sites! 😃

I run youtube-dl on two different servers (both Ubuntu VPS from same provider) and one of them has recently stopped downloading facebook videos with the explanation above. The other one works nicely and without any errors. I have also used the --write-pages option to dump pages and inspect them, and I can see that dumped pages actually do contain the videos.

youtube-dl on both server is invoked exactly the same and it works on one, but does not work on other, without any clear explanation. I think it’s important to clarify that this only happens to Facebook videos while Youtube still works.

Dumps are also attached (added .html for easier viewing) dump.zip

Thank you and keep up the good work!

[yan12125]

FYI: It’s already on the master branch and will be included in the next version.

[yan12125]

Thanks for the report. Please check whether 38588ab fixes the problem or not.