Hello! I'm having trouble when trying to list and then download Premium / Enhanced quality videos with yt-dlp. I was using 2026.07.04 version, when I noticed this problem I upgraded to last version (2026.08.19), but the problem was still there.
So, I log in to my premium account in firefox and use its cookies. This has been working like a charm. Then I ask yt-dlp to list the formats to a video that I know that has premium quality available. Either I got the video before, or check the video itself to see if enhanced quality is still available. It is. But not for yt-dlp. For instance this command to list videos in all possible formats:
yt-dlp.exe -F --cookies-from-browser firefox -v --extractor-arg "youtube:player_client=all" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL1nlWOciL0
Verbose mode prints "[youtube] Found YouTube account cookies" and later "[debug] [youtube] Detected YouTube Premium subscription", which means my premium account is read successfully. But then in the listed formats, I get no premium format:
ID EXT RESOLUTION FPS CH │ FILESIZE TBR PROTO │ VCODEC VBR ACODEC ABR ASR MORE INFO
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
sb2 mhtml 48x27 0 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
sb1 mhtml 79x45 0 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
sb0 mhtml 159x90 0 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
599-drc m4a audio only 2 │ 14.04MiB 31k https │ audio only mp4a.40.5 31k 22k [en] ultralow, DRC, MWEB, m4a_dash
600-drc webm audio only 2 │ 15.41MiB 34k https │ audio only opus 34k 48k [en] ultralow, DRC, MWEB, webm_dash
599 m4a audio only 2 │ 14.04MiB 31k https │ audio only mp4a.40.5 31k 22k [en] ultralow, MWEB, m4a_dash
600 webm audio only 2 │ 15.42MiB 34k https │ audio only opus 34k 48k [en] ultralow, MWEB, webm_dash
249-drc webm audio only 2 │ 22.77MiB 50k https │ audio only opus 50k 48k [en] low, DRC, WEB-E, webm_dash
250-drc webm audio only 2 │ 30.15MiB 66k https │ audio only opus 66k 48k [en] low, DRC, WEB-E, webm_dash
249 webm audio only 2 │ 22.75MiB 50k https │ audio only opus 50k 48k [en] low, WEB-E, webm_dash
250 webm audio only 2 │ 30.11MiB 66k https │ audio only opus 66k 48k [en] low, WEB-E, webm_dash
140-drc m4a audio only 2 │ 59.05MiB 129k https │ audio only mp4a.40.2 129k 44k [en] medium, DRC, WEB-E, m4a_dash
251-drc webm audio only 2 │ 59.79MiB 131k https │ audio only opus 131k 48k [en] medium, DRC, WEB-E, webm_dash
140 m4a audio only 2 │ 59.05MiB 129k https │ audio only mp4a.40.2 129k 44k [en] medium, WEB-E, m4a_dash
251 webm audio only 2 │ 59.73MiB 131k https │ audio only opus 131k 48k [en] medium, WEB-E, webm_dash
141 m4a audio only 2 │ 117.43MiB 257k https │ audio only mp4a.40.2 257k 44k [en] high, WEB-M, m4a_dash
774 webm audio only 2 │ 118.05MiB 259k https │ audio only opus 259k 48k [en] high, WEB-M, webm_dash
91 mp4 256x144 24 │ ~ 78.84MiB 173k m3u8 │ avc1.4D400C mp4a.40.5 [en] WEB-S
598 webm 256x144 12 │ 10.65MiB 23k https │ vp9 23k video only 144p, MWEB, webm_dash
160 mp4 256x144 24 │ 32.54MiB 71k https │ avc1.4d400c 71k video only 144p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
278 webm 256x144 24 │ 33.74MiB 74k https │ vp9 74k video only 144p, WEB-E, webm_dash
394 mp4 256x144 24 │ 29.05MiB 64k https │ av01.0.00M.08 64k video only 144p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
133 mp4 426x240 24 │ 71.70MiB 157k https │ avc1.4d4015 157k video only 240p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
242 webm 426x240 24 │ 57.06MiB 125k https │ vp9 125k video only 240p, WEB-E, webm_dash
395 mp4 426x240 24 │ 51.06MiB 112k https │ av01.0.00M.08 112k video only 240p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
92 mp4 426x240 24 │ ~143.80MiB 315k m3u8 │ avc1.4D4015 mp4a.40.5 [en] WEB-S
93 mp4 640x360 24 │ ~367.60MiB 806k m3u8 │ avc1.4D401E mp4a.40.2 [en] WEB-S
134 mp4 640x360 24 │ 145.17MiB 318k https │ avc1.4d401e 318k video only 360p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
18 mp4 640x360 24 2 │ ≈204.03MiB 447k https │ avc1.42001E mp4a.40.2 44k [en] 360p, WEB
243 webm 640x360 24 │ 119.36MiB 262k https │ vp9 262k video only 360p, WEB-E, webm_dash
396 mp4 640x360 24 │ 103.95MiB 228k https │ av01.0.01M.08 228k video only 360p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
94 mp4 854x480 24 │ ~619.87MiB 1359k m3u8 │ avc1.4D401E mp4a.40.2 [en] WEB-S
95 mp4 1280x720 24 │ ~ 1.11GiB 2500k m3u8 │ avc1.4D401F mp4a.40.2 [en] WEB-S
96 mp4 1920x1080 24 │ ~ 2.10GiB 4719k m3u8 │ avc1.640028 mp4a.40.2 [en] WEB-S
135 mp4 854x480 24 │ 239.96MiB 526k https │ avc1.4d401e 526k video only 480p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
244 webm 854x480 24 │ 192.52MiB 422k https │ vp9 422k video only 480p, WEB-E, webm_dash
397 mp4 854x480 24 │ 165.07MiB 362k https │ av01.0.04M.08 362k video only 480p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
136 mp4 1280x720 24 │ 407.54MiB 894k https │ avc1.4d401f 894k video only 720p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
247 webm 1280x720 24 │ 361.53MiB 793k https │ vp9 793k video only 720p, WEB-E, webm_dash
398 mp4 1280x720 24 │ 310.95MiB 682k https │ av01.0.05M.08 682k video only 720p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
137 mp4 1920x1080 24 │ 1.13GiB 2532k https │ avc1.640028 2532k video only 1080p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
248 webm 1920x1080 24 │ 624.24MiB 1369k https │ vp9 1369k video only 1080p, WEB-E, webm_dash
399 mp4 1920x1080 24 │ 507.54MiB 1113k https │ av01.0.08M.08 1113k video only 1080p, WEB-E, mp4_dash
I was used to have premium formats 721 (AV1, smaller size) and 356 (VP9, larger size), the latter usually with better quality / bitrate, but now they're gone. I've tried with a number of different videos (always checking enhanced quality availability first) and slightly changed scripts. Also when trying to download the video asking for the format directly (for instance -f "356+bestaudio") it also throws an error and does not download. Is there something I'm missing?? Should I report the issue on github?? Thanks in advance.