yt-dlp for Win7

[Bencuri]

I wonder this error is caused by that Win7 is no longer supported in latest versions, or because of some other thing:

C:\Users\Downloads>yt-dlp.exe -o %(title)s.%(ext)s http
s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtAr5cYYDNk -f bestvideo+bestaudio
Deprecated Feature: Support for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 has been deprecated. Se
e https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/10086 for details.
You may stop receiving updates on this version at any time!
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtAr5cYYDNk
[youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: Downloading webpage
[youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: Downloading ios player API JSON
[youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: Downloading mweb player API JSON
[youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: Downloading player 50cc0679
WARNING: [youtube] Falling back to generic n function search
player = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/50cc0679/player_es6.vflset/en
_US/base.js
WARNING: [youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: nsig extraction failed: Some formats may be miss
ing
n = Zlvr7aZU2-sDWgXIwx ; player = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/50cc
0679/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js
WARNING: [youtube] Falling back to generic n function search
player = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/50cc0679/player_es6.vflset/en
_US/base.js
WARNING: [youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: nsig extraction failed: Some formats may be miss
ing
n = LQx7Fckn6nYjlp8Ik6 ; player = https://www.youtube.com/s/player/50cc
0679/player_es6.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] gtAr5cYYDNk: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] gtAr5cYYDNk: Downloading 1 format(s): 136+251
WARNING: You have requested merging of multiple formats but ffmpeg is not instal
led. The formats won't be merged
ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden

[Obo]

For both reasons, kind of.

Youtube continuously changes it's download protection algorithms, and the yt-dlp team came to the conclusion that their approach wasn't maintainable anymore. Therefore they decided the nsig challenge (see your error messages) is better be solved by a real Javascript engine and not by the their in-project javascript interpreter anymore. That's the reason why yt-dlp now requires a Javascript interpreter like Deno, Node.js, Bun or QuickJS and errors out when none is available for downloads from Yuotube.

There is an unofficial yt-dlp built for Win7 at https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases, but you'll have to look if you find a supported Javascript engine for Win7 (maybe QuickJS does work). You should also install a Win7 build of ffmpeg.

[cholla]

I'm using Windows 7 & I have the nicolaasjan version of yt-dlp.
My version is older than the versions in the link & I probably should update but the version I have is working.

I do NOT have JAVA installed on Windows 7.
So for me it has NOT been necessary for yt-dlp to work.

I'm using this version of ffmpeg(currently): https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/414767-ffmpeg-7-0-1-and-Windows-7/page3#post2781425
It is working fine.
I was using this version before & it was also working fine:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/414767-ffmpeg-7-0-1-and-Windows-7/page2#post2771491

[Obo]

@cholla, just for the record: I've mentioned JavaScript, not Java. Java is a completely different beast and indeed not needed or even used by yt-dlp. The JavaScript interpreter _is needed for downloads from Youtube_ (only), as it solves the nsig challenge that Youtube uses to protect most formats now.

[cholla]

@ Obo,
I should have read more carefully.
From what I have read yt-dlp has a built-in JavaScript interpreter & it is working for now.
YouTube is working on better blocking of downloads.
So I hope yt-dlp can keep ahead of YouTube on this.

[Obo]

yt-dlp's internal Javscript interpreter won't be updated anymore; it was a maintenance nightmare, and the latest updates on Youtube made it more or less impossible to continue maintaining it. That's why yt-dlp starting with version 2025.11.12 requires an external Javascript engine when used with Youtube. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/15012

[Brazil]

From what I have read yt-dlp has a built-in JavaScript interpreter & it is working for now.

An external javascript interpreter is now required:
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/14404

QuickJS works for me and should work on Windows 7.

[Bencuri]

Okay, so thanks for the advices first of all. I tried the nicolaasjan fork, the latest build. It worked. I am on Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

The QuickJS you mentioned: how do you use that? You start it in CMD first and yt-dlp afterwards?

[Obo]

It is called by yt-dlp, you don't have to start it - see the help page (yt-dlp --help or https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp):

If the quickjs binary is found in the same directory as yt-dlp or found in PATH:

yt-dlp --js-runtimes quickjs ...

If quickjs is put somewhere else (replace /path/to/quickjs-binary with the real path where you've put quickjs):

yt-dlp --js-runtimes quickjs:/path/to/quickjs-binary ...

If you use a config file for yt-dlp (like ${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config - see https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#configuration), you can put that option into it.

[cholla]

I'm currently using version 2025.9.27.5806.
It would still have the internal Javscript interpreter.
It still works for most YouTube videos.
I have ran into procested or private content that access was denied.
I'm not good at getting the m3u8 by using something like Stream Detector.
Sometimes the --list-formats has some m3u8.
I did not have success with the --cookies-from-browser firefox for protected content.

I probably will give a newer version & an external Javscript interpreter a try.
No hurry while yt-dlp is working most of the time for me.

[Bencuri]

Thanks for the clarification.

The other thing I am trying to find out: isn't there a tool somewhere, by chance, that could create a GUI or command file for yt-dlp, that would require to insert a Youtube link, than it runs yt-dlp with the usual parameters. So if this is my usual command:

yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blablabla -f bestvideo+bestaudio -o %(title)s.%(ext)s

the GUI or command file would replace the link you add to it and would type the full command in CMD.exe on its own.

[cholla]

I prefer to use yt-dlp as CLI.

There were several GUIs when I searched for one.
I have not tested it but this one looked OK.
https://stacher.io/

If it is not the one you like then test some of the others.
Like this one from videohelp:
https://www.videohelp.com/software/yt-dlp-gui

[nicolaasjan]

From what I have read yt-dlp has a built-in JavaScript interpreter & it is working for now.

An external javascript interpreter is now required:
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/14404

QuickJS works for me and should work on Windows 7.

Hello all. This is my first post here.
(I'm the maintainer of yt-dlp for Windows XP and Windows 7)

QuickJS is rather slow.
There is a fork of Node.js for Windows 7:
https://github.com/vladimir-andreevich/node.js-windows-7
Add the folder containing node.exe to your PATH.

Usage:

--js-runtimes node

Then yt-dlp will see it:

[debug] Command-line config: ['-v']
[debug] User config "C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\yt-dlp\config.txt": ['--rm-cache-dir', '--console-title', '--js-runtimes', 'node', '-o', '~/Desktop/%(title)s.%(ext)s', '-S', 'res:1080,vcodec:vp9,acodec:opus', '--embed-thumbnail', '--add-metadata', '--convert-thumbnails', 'jpg', '--ppa', 'ffmpeg:-metadata synopsis=""', '--force-ipv4', '-N', '6', '--sponsorblock-remove', 'all']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp1252, fs utf-8, pref cp1252, out cp1252 (No VT), error cp1252 (No VT), screen cp1252 (No VT)
[debug] yt-dlp version nicolaasjan/yt-dlp@2025.12.21.064937 (win_exe)
[debug] Python 3.14.1 (CPython AMD64 64bit) - Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 (OpenSSL 3.0.18 30 Sep 2025)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg N-122272-g224b3ff82a-WIN7 (fdk,setts), ffprobe N-122272-g224b3ff82a-WIN7, phantomjs 2.5.0
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.2.0, certifi-2025.11.12, curl_cffi-0.13.0, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.5, sqlite3-3.50.4, urllib3-2.6.2, websockets-15.0.1, yt_dlp_ejs-0.3.2
[debug] JS runtimes: node-20.19.2
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets, curl_cffi
[debug] Plugin directories: C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\yt-dlp\plugins\bgutil-ytdlp-pot-provider\yt_dlp_plugins
[debug] Loaded 1853 extractors
Removing cache dir C:\Users\User/.cache\yt-dlp ..

[Bencuri]

I prefer to use yt-dlp as CLI.

There were several GUIs when I searched for one.
I have not tested it but this one looked OK.
https://stacher.io/

If it is not the one you like then test some of the others.
Like this one from videohelp:
https://www.videohelp.com/software/yt-dlp-gui

I am trying to make a .bat script for this purpose, but the problem is that the download happens but the title is not grabbed for naming:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO ======================================================================================================================
ECHO.
SET /P URL="[Enter video URL]"
ECHO.
ECHO ======================================================================================================================
ECHO.
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best" -o "%%(title)s.%%(ext)s" "%URL%" 
ECHO.
ECHO ======================================================================================================================
ECHO.
ECHO Done!
PAUSE
EXIT

[Bencuri]

QuickJS is rather slow.
There is a fork of Node.js for Windows 7:
https://github.com/vladimir-andreevich/node.js-windows-7
Add the folder containing node.exe to your PATH.

Thanks!

[nicolaasjan]

I prefer to use yt-dlp as CLI.

There were several GUIs when I searched for one.
I have not tested it but this one looked OK.
https://stacher.io/

If it is not the one you like then test some of the others.
Like this one from videohelp:
https://www.videohelp.com/software/yt-dlp-gui

I am trying to make a .bat script for this purpose, but the problem is that the download happens but the title is not grabbed for naming:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO ======================================================================================================================
ECHO.
SET /P URL="[Enter video URL]"
ECHO.
ECHO ======================================================================================================================
ECHO.
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best" -o "%%(title)s.%%(ext)s" "%URL%" 
ECHO.
ECHO ======================================================================================================================
ECHO.
ECHO Done!
PAUSE
EXIT

It could be, that Windows 7 is struggling with special characters in video titles (like emojis or symbols), which causes the naming to fail.
Try adding: `--restrict-filenames`.

[Bencuri]

It could be, that Windows 7 is struggling with special characters in video titles (like emojis or symbols), which causes the naming to fail.
Try adding: `--restrict-filenames`.

Luckily the following script works and adds the correct name, while also asks for the url automatically:

@Echo Off
set /p url=Enter video url: 
@Echo On
yt-dlp -o "out/%%(title)s.%%(ext)s" %url% -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best"

[Bencuri]

After testing yt-dlp, I ran into some issue with the quality detections. So the situation is the following:

1. I want to download this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfObjX-E_g4

2. I type: yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfObjX-E_g4 -f bestvideo+bestaudio -o %(title)s.%(ext)s

The files being downloaded are:

[info] ZfObjX-E_g4: Downloading 1 format(s): 399+251-1
[download] Destination: Celia: 1x03 - !El verano! | RTVE Archivo.f399.mp4
[download] 100% of 405.95MiB in 00:00:30 at 13.24MiB/s
[download] Destination: Celia: 1x03 - !El verano! | RTVE Archivo.f251-1.webm
[download] 100% of 32.44MiB in 00:00:01 at 17.99MiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "Celia: 1x03 - !El verano! | RTVE Archivo.webm"

3. So as you see, I typed bestvideo and bestaudio, yet, when I list the available formats, the version above is not the best quality one. There are larger files, too, with higher bitrate:

96-0 mp4 1440x1080 25 | ~ 1.10GiB 3561k m3u8 | avc1.640028 m
p4a.40.2 [es]
96-1 mp4 1440x1080 25 | ~ 1.10GiB 3561k m3u8 | avc1.640028 m
p4a.40.2 [en-US] (default)
96-2 mp4 1440x1080 25 | ~ 1.10GiB 3561k m3u8 | avc1.640028 m
p4a.40.2 [es-US] (original)
137 mp4 1440x1080 25 | 765.37MiB 2419k https | avc1.640028 2419k v
ideo only 1080p, mp4_dash
248 webm 1440x1080 25 | 401.99MiB 1271k https | vp9 1271k v
ideo only 1080p, webm_dash
399 mp4 1440x1080 25 | 405.95MiB 1283k https | av01.0.08M.08 1283k v
ideo only 1080p, mp4_dash

Why doesn't it detect the best quality video as requested?

[nicolaasjan]

After testing yt-dlp, I ran into some issue with the quality detections. So the situation is the following:

1. I want to download this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfObjX-E_g4

2. I type: yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfObjX-E_g4 -f bestvideo+bestaudio -o %(title)s.%(ext)s

The files being downloaded are:

[info] ZfObjX-E_g4: Downloading 1 format(s): 399+251-1
[download] Destination: Celia: 1x03 - !El verano! | RTVE Archivo.f399.mp4
[download] 100% of 405.95MiB in 00:00:30 at 13.24MiB/s
[download] Destination: Celia: 1x03 - !El verano! | RTVE Archivo.f251-1.webm
[download] 100% of 32.44MiB in 00:00:01 at 17.99MiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "Celia: 1x03 - !El verano! | RTVE Archivo.webm"

3. So as you see, I typed bestvideo and bestaudio, yet, when I list the available formats, the version above is not the best quality one. There are larger files, too, with higher bitrate:

96-0 mp4 1440x1080 25 | ~ 1.10GiB 3561k m3u8 | avc1.640028 m
p4a.40.2 [es]
96-1 mp4 1440x1080 25 | ~ 1.10GiB 3561k m3u8 | avc1.640028 m
p4a.40.2 [en-US] (default)
96-2 mp4 1440x1080 25 | ~ 1.10GiB 3561k m3u8 | avc1.640028 m
p4a.40.2 [es-US] (original)
137 mp4 1440x1080 25 | 765.37MiB 2419k https | avc1.640028 2419k v
ideo only 1080p, mp4_dash
248 webm 1440x1080 25 | 401.99MiB 1271k https | vp9 1271k v
ideo only 1080p, webm_dash
399 mp4 1440x1080 25 | 405.95MiB 1283k https | av01.0.08M.08 1283k v
ideo only 1080p, mp4_dash

Why doesn't it detect the best quality video as requested?

These pre-merged (!) m3u8 formats are only shown if you don't have a JS Runtime installed.
And usually, the estimation of the file size of these formats is wrong.
I advise you to install a JS Runtime.

[Obo]

What makes you think that "avc1" is better than "av01"? (And btw: the default format that yt-dlp uses is "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best" - i.e. prefer merging the best video + best audio variant, fall back to best combined format; I don't really see, why you use "-f bestvideo+bestaudio".)

"av01" uses the AV1 codec, "avc1" uses the way older and way more inefficient H264 codec. Larger doesn't automatically mean better.

[Bencuri]

I am not an expert but I have donwloaded the same video with 4KVideodownloader Plus when it still supported Win7, and that one downloaded the larger file when it was set to download best quality video. That's why I thought the one yt-dlp downloads is not the best. But maybe the other one detected it wrong, I don't know.

When I write "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best" or bestvideo+bestaudio the result is the same here.

[nicolaasjan]

I am not an expert but I have donwloaded the same video with 4KVideodownloader Plus when it still supported Win7, and that one downloaded the larger file when it was set to download best quality video. That's why I thought the one yt-dlp downloads is not the best. But maybe the other one detected it wrong, I don't know.

When I write "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best" or bestvideo+bestaudio the result is the same here.

4KVideodownloader just uses yt-dlp under the hood (without giving them credit). It could be that they still used an older version.
But rest assured; the yt-dlp devs know what's 'best'.

[Obo]

Quality of both versions of the video should be about the same. The AVC codec simply has a better "compression" rate. You shouldn't recognize a visual difference between the AVC version and the H264 version, only in size

For the -f parameter: yes, here it doesn't make a difference. The difference between the formats is:

- "bestvideo+bestaudio" (or "bv+ba") downloads the video stream yt-dlp considers best, and the audio stream yt-dlp considers best, and merges them (executes ffmpeg to do so)
- "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best" (or "bv*+ba/b") searches for the best video stream and downloads it if a video stream is available (because of the "*"), and the best audio stream, and merges them, like your -f argument. If the site doesn't offer separate video and audio streams, yt-dlp falls back to the pre-merged format it considers best; that's what the "/" is for: give yt-dlp more choices what to download.

The format selection is explained at github: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#format-selection and worth a reading; it includes a lot of examples.

[nicolaasjan]

@Obo

Quality of both versions of the video should be about the same. The AVC codec simply has a better "compression" rate. You shouldn't recognize a visual difference between the AVC version and the H264 version, only in size

Uhm... I think you meant AV1.
AVC is H.264.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding

[Bencuri]

I am not an expert but I have donwloaded the same video with 4KVideodownloader Plus when it still supported Win7, and that one downloaded the larger file when it was set to download best quality video. That's why I thought the one yt-dlp downloads is not the best. But maybe the other one detected it wrong, I don't know.

When I write "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best" or bestvideo+bestaudio the result is the same here.

4KVideodownloader just uses yt-dlp under the hood (without giving them credit). It could be that they still used an older version.
But rest assured; the yt-dlp devs know what's 'best'.

I have just compared the AV1 and the AVC1 it downloads as best, and it does not differ too much, but the AVC1 does look sharper, the AV1 is slightly blurrier compared to that. You can see it when you switch between the two frame versions. May not be a big problem or may be visible. It could be decided when watching in full, which is less tiring for the eye.

[nicolaasjan]

I am not an expert but I have donwloaded the same video with 4KVideodownloader Plus when it still supported Win7, and that one downloaded the larger file when it was set to download best quality video. That's why I thought the one yt-dlp downloads is not the best. But maybe the other one detected it wrong, I don't know.

When I write "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best" or bestvideo+bestaudio the result is the same here.

4KVideodownloader just uses yt-dlp under the hood (without giving them credit). It could be that they still used an older version.
But rest assured; the yt-dlp devs know what's 'best'.

I have just compared the AV1 and the AVC1 it downloads as best, and it does not differ too much, but the AVC1 does look sharper, the AV1 is slightly blurrier compared to that. You can see it when you switch between the two frame versions. May not be a big problem or may be visible. It could be decided when watching in full, which is less tiring for the eye.

From what I've learned, the VP9 codec is even sharper.
https://softhandtech.com/which-is-better-vp9-or-h264/

Compression Efficiency

Both VP9 and H.264 are designed for efficient compression, yet they employ differing methodologies.

H.264 offers excellent compression, typically consuming 25% to 50% less bandwidth than older codecs like MPEG-2. However, it may not capture as much detail in high resolutions as newer codecs.

VP9, on the other hand, can outperform H.264 in terms of compression efficiency, especially at higher resolutions. It is estimated that VP9 can provide up to a 50% smaller file size compared to H.264 at similar quality levels, making it ideal for high-definition streaming.

Quality at Different Resolutions

Quality is a critical factor in codec performance.

H.264 performs reasonably well across low to medium resolutions. However, as resolutions increase to 1080p and 4K, some users report that artifacts can become apparent.

VP9 excels in high-resolution applications. It is designed to maintain more details even at 4K and beyond, making it preferable for platforms that focus on high-definition content.

[Obo]

Uhm... I think you meant AV1.
AVC is H.264.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding

Oops - my bad

[Bencuri]

Okay, not a big problem. But anyway, the downloader applications that are set to download mp4, do they grab the avc version every way, or they grab whichever they find optimal according to the settings, and in the end they place it into an mp4 container?

[Brazil]

I have just compared the AV1 and the AVC1 it downloads as best, and it does not differ too much, but the AVC1 does look sharper, the AV1 is slightly blurrier compared to that.

On Youtube the highest available resolution for H.264/AVC is 1080. That's it.
If you want a higher resolution then don't force AVC1 neither the MP4 container.

[Bencuri]

Anyway, I have just tried another link that has mp4 and vp9 versions, if I force it to download mp4 only it still selects the second largest, not the largest with the highest bitrate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JstXgN_00SE

So it is not just about whether AV1 or AVC is better. It messes up the order in the same format as well. If you don't check the IDs and download according to them, it won't pick the one with the highest bitrate.