Troublesome Outlier Audio Formats in YT Videos

[Seeker47]

I've been running into this more often lately -- YT videos downloaded that play without any sound -- and I don't know whether this is on the content creators, or some change in what YouTube requires or promotes as one of its accepted options. This can be across my use of multiple different video downloader apps, as I keep several of them on hand, against any problem contingencies that may arise. In the most recent case that I actually tested with MediaInfo, the video's audio turned out to be Opus. WTF ?! That's one I hardly ever found inside a video. Not standard, I'm thinking. If it was going to be played in VLC on the computer, no problem, as nearly every audio or video codec around gets covered for that. But I normally pipe everything to a big screen tv for viewing, with an option to use a few different playback devices there. With a case like this one, I will get an error of either "Unsupported Audio Format", or no listed error but no sound at all. By the time I get down to the last playback option, an Nvidia Shield running VLC, most likely the video will play as desired, including the sound.

Incidentally, some of the video downloaders will just give errors and baulk at downloading these videos in the first place. Some of them have a number of Settings adjustments that are possible. One such that I most recently added to the toolkit after someone recommended it on another forum was NYT Downloader, which is another of the front ends for YT-DLP. Some downloaders seem to offer format conversion in the course of doing the download. So, I guess my questions are: What's up with YT these days, in some of these anomalous goings on ? And then, what does one do about making sure the audio will be in some more universal, supported format ? If any significant work has to be done on videos after downloading them, that would seem to be an undue hassle.

[Seeker47]

I will be cycling thru a few other of the downloaders, to see what might turn up, but for now, this:


[Attachment 87295 - Click to enlarge]

[davexnet]

Are you saying those apps don't give you enough control?
Use yt-dlp directly and choose the exact streams you want

[Seeker47]

Are you saying those apps don't give you enough control?
Use yt-dlp directly and choose the exact streams you want

Yes, I can and will try that. If I use TubeDigger, it has been showing me like 16+ possible elements, including multiple resolutions, language and SRT tracks. But I don't want to have to stitch selected elements together, after the fact. Some of the downloaders (like that MassTube one) are doing this automatically.

Here's an example of another downloader -- one showing an AAC option for the audio, which I think is much more standard -- but it also whiffed on getting the video.


[Attachment 87297 - Click to enlarge]

If it comes to that, there are also sites that will dl the videos for you. Have had some mixed results going that way.

[Alwyn]

Let's have a link to one of these problem YT videos.

[Seeker47]

Let's have a link to one of these problem YT videos.

The video from my last posted image was hauled in successfully by TubeDigger, and it appears to include an audio format that should be playable in the way I described. We shall see.

I think this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

is probably the video that came thru with the unsupported Opus audio (after at least a couple of the video downloaders had whiffed on getting it), and I ultimately had to have the en.loader.to site get it for me.

Interested to learn your findings. (I think there will turn out to be some other examples.)

[Seeker47]

TD is one of the downloaders that can / will mux elements, automatically in the course of doing its thing -- but not always.

[Seeker47]

Let's have a link to one of these problem YT videos.

I should note that so far the problematic ones have been in the minority. I must be downloading at least a couple dozen YT videos each week. Download them because the downloaders ignore, avoid, or strip out the YT-inserted commercials, which I can't tolerate, and I see no compelling reason to pay for a subscription that might or might not accomplish that same thing. Don't really like viewing videos on the computer in real time, anyway.

[Alwyn]

I see a lot of YT videos with Opus audio using "stats for nerds" (all my VHS uploads at 1920x1440 are encoded with opus by YT) , but this downloader always downloads AAC:

MP4:

[Attachment 87298 - Click to enlarge]

MKV:

[Attachment 87299 - Click to enlarge]

[Seeker47]

I see a lot of YT videos with Opus audio using "stats for nerds" (all my VHS uploads at 1920x1440 are encoded with opus by YT) , but this downloader always downloads AAC:

MP4:

[Attachment 87298 - Click to enlarge]

MKV:

[Attachment 87299 - Click to enlarge]

I didn't catch the name of the downloader you were using in those pix. If not already present there, I'd like to add it to the toolkit.

[cholla]

@ Alwyn,
I have & do use 4K Downloader like yours.
I did not care for the newer Plus or + version.
I installed it & then uninstalled it.
So I'm using the older version.

@ Seeker47,
I did some testing with yt-dlp.
I spent some time on this a I hope it helps.
Using the YouTube you posted the link to.
Start with:

yt-dlp --list-formats https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

Select the formats video & audio you want.
Make your Command window wide enough to read the "More Info" as it shows the language.
Opus will show opus.
.m4a should usually be .aac.
This was selecting the largest .mp4 video & .m4a audio.

Using:

yt-dlp -f 140-8+625 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

MediaInfo:
General
Complete name : C:\Users\users\Desktop\Working\Mediainfo1.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/mp41)
File size : 1.43 GiB
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Overall bit rate : 7 342 kb/s
Writing application : Lavf62.0.100

Video
ID : 2
Format : vp09
Codec ID : vp09
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Bit rate : 7 210 kb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 24.000 FPS
Minimum frame rate : 23.810 FPS
Maximum frame rate : 24.390 FPS
Color space : YUV
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.036
Stream size : 1.41 GiB (98%)
Title : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc. Created on: 06/04/2025.
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 25.6 MiB (2%)
Title : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc.
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1

yt-dlp -f ba*+bv* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

This is obviously different even if the code has ba*+bv*.General
Complete name : C:\Users\Users\Desktop\Working\Mediainfo2.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size : 86.2 MiB
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 432 kb/s
Writing application : Google

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3
Format settings : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Bit rate : 333 kb/s
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 24.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.060
Stream size : 66.5 MiB (77%)
Title : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc.
Writing library : x264 core 155 r2901 7d0ff22
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 96.0 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 19.2 MiB (22%)
Title : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc.

You would think this would be the same as the previous video but it is not.

yt-dlp -f bestaudio+bestvideo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

MediaInfo:
General
Complete name : C:\Users\Users\Desktop\Vedit\yt-dlp\Mediainfo3.webm
Format : WebM
Format version : Version 4
File size : 1.43 GiB
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Overall bit rate : 7 341 kb/s
Writing application : Lavf62.0.100
Writing library : Lavf62.0.100

Video
ID : 2
Format : VP9
Codec ID : V_VP9
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 24.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 1
Format : Opus
Codec ID : A_OPUS
Duration : 27 min 55 s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth : 32 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 7 ms
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

yt-dlp -f "all"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

This one will give you multiple files.
This has 2 different video files & one audio file.
They would require muxing.

I decided to add this one.It is the audio file from one of the m3u8' in the list.
It is a slightly larger aac file.I could not tell much difference.

yt-dlp -f 234-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rwvcQ8ADs

[Seeker47]

@cholla,

Thanks very much for taking the time, and providing that detailed report.

It looks like my problem in certain videos may be Google's doing (as the owner of YT), one way or the other. So far, it only seems to affect something like 1 out of every 8 or 10 videos that I download from there. (One might suppose that it would behoove content creators to go as "universal" with the formats as they could ? But then, most users are probably viewing these videos on their computers, where this is closer to being a nonexistent issue, and not in the way that I do this.)

You seem to be getting far more extensive, "Chapter & Verse" descriptions from MediaInfo than I am accustomed to seeing.

Some of my downloaders are supposed to be doing an auto-muxing of elements, in the course of their efforts. But there could be glitches or limitations with that.

I'll have to look into 4K Downloader. Command line arguments fed into YT-DLP would not be my preferred modus operandi.

[cholla]

I'm fairly good with command line but not an expert or what would be called a coder.
I believe there are some YT-DLP GUI's but I have not looked for one.
I have used 4K Downloader many times .
It is a good choice & usually does a good job.
It has an option of .mp4 or .mkv.
I do not know if the older version is available.
You can try the 4K Downloader + .
That is what Alwyn was using in his post with images.

My TV can be picky about the video format also.
My older LG BD player was also. It failed & I got aa new one.
So far the Panasonic has played all files I have tried.
I'm sure there are some that won't play.