playlist_dl/IMPROVEMENTS_SUMMARY.md

YouTube Bot Detection Improvements - Summary

Changes Made

1. Enhanced HTTP Headers (src/core/downloader.py)

• Updated User-Agent to Chrome 120 (more recent)
• Added more realistic HTTP headers:
  • Accept: Full HTML/XML/WebP support
  • Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
  • DNT: 1 (Do Not Track)
  • Connection: keep-alive
  • Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1

2. Cookie Support

• Added automatic detection of cookies.txt file
• If cookies exist, they're automatically used for all requests
• Cookies provide authenticated session, much more reliable than User-Agent spoofing

3. Improved Retry Logic

• Search phase: Exponential backoff with longer delays for bot detection
  • 4s → 8s → 16s → 32s → 64s
  • Distinguishes between bot detection and other errors
• Download phase: Separate retry logic with 3 attempts
  • 4s → 8s → 16s delays
  • Handles format unavailability gracefully

4. Better Error Handling

• Distinguishes between different error types:
  • Bot detection errors: Longer delays, more retries
  • Format unavailable: No retry (video doesn't have audio)
  • Other errors: Standard retry logic
• Cleaner error messages

5. Cookie Export Tools

• export_youtube_cookies.py: Improved with better instructions
• YOUTUBE_BOT_DETECTION.md: New troubleshooting guide

How to Use Cookies

Quick Start

1. Make sure you're logged in to YouTube in your browser
2. Run: python export_youtube_cookies.py
3. Done! The app will use cookies automatically

Alternative (yt-dlp method)

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox -o /dev/null https://www.youtube.com

What Changed in Code

src/core/downloader.py

_get_ydl_options():

• Added cookie file detection
• Enhanced HTTP headers
• Updated User-Agent to Chrome 120

download_best_match():

• Longer delays for bot detection (4s, 8s, 16s, 32s, 64s)
• Better error classification

_download_url():

• Added retry logic for downloads
• Handles bot detection during download phase
• Distinguishes format errors from other errors

Testing

The improvements have been tested with:

• ✅ Enhanced HTTP headers
• ✅ Cookie support (if available)
• ✅ Exponential backoff for bot detection
• ✅ Better error messages

Backward Compatibility

• ✅ Works without cookies (uses User-Agent spoofing)
• ✅ Automatically uses cookies if available
• ✅ No breaking changes to existing code
• ✅ All existing features still work

Next Steps

If you still get bot detection errors:

1. Try exporting cookies: python export_youtube_cookies.py
2. Wait a few hours (YouTube may have temporarily blocked your IP)
3. Try a different browser for cookie export
4. Consider using a VPN (if allowed in your region)