yt-dlp/yt-dlp · error · ValueError

invalid cookies from browser arguments: {opts.cookiesfrombro

Error message

invalid cookies from browser arguments: {opts.cookiesfrombrowser}

What it means

Raised while parsing --cookies-from-browser: the argument must fullmatch 'NAME[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]' where NAME excludes '+' and ':' (regex: name [^+:]+, optional '+keyring' [^:]+, optional ':profile' that may not itself start with ':', optional '::container'). If re.fullmatch returns None, this ValueError echoes the raw argument. On success the value is rewritten to a (browser, profile, keyring, container) tuple.

Source

Thrown at yt_dlp/__init__.py:404

                    raise ValueError(f'invalid {name} time range "{regex}". {err}')
                ranges.append(dur)

        return chapters, ranges, from_url

    opts.remove_chapters, opts.remove_ranges, _ = parse_chapters('--remove-chapters', opts.remove_chapters)
    opts.download_ranges = download_range_func(*parse_chapters('--download-sections', opts.download_ranges, True))

    # Cookies from browser
    if opts.cookiesfrombrowser:
        container = None
        mobj = re.fullmatch(r'''(?x)
            (?P<name>[^+:]+)
            (?:\s*\+\s*(?P<keyring>[^:]+))?
            (?:\s*:\s*(?!:)(?P<profile>.+?))?
            (?:\s*::\s*(?P<container>.+))?
        ''', opts.cookiesfrombrowser)
        if mobj is None:
            raise ValueError(f'invalid cookies from browser arguments: {opts.cookiesfrombrowser}')
        browser_name, keyring, profile, container = mobj.group('name', 'keyring', 'profile', 'container')
        browser_name = browser_name.lower()
        if browser_name not in SUPPORTED_BROWSERS:
            raise ValueError(f'unsupported browser specified for cookies: "{browser_name}". '
                             f'Supported browsers are: {", ".join(sorted(SUPPORTED_BROWSERS))}')
        if keyring is not None:
            keyring = keyring.upper()
            if keyring not in SUPPORTED_KEYRINGS:
                raise ValueError(f'unsupported keyring specified for cookies: "{keyring}". '
                                 f'Supported keyrings are: {", ".join(sorted(SUPPORTED_KEYRINGS))}')
        opts.cookiesfrombrowser = (browser_name, profile, keyring, container)

    if opts.impersonate is not None:
        opts.impersonate = ImpersonateTarget.from_str(opts.impersonate.lower())

    # MetadataParser
    def metadataparser_actions(f):
        if isinstance(f, str):

View on GitHub (pinned to 81ecd58b13)

Solutions

1. Use the documented shape: BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER], e.g. 'chrome', 'firefox:default-release', 'chrome+kwallet5', 'chrome::Personal'.
2. Remove trailing/leading separators; every separator must be followed by content.
3. Quote the whole argument so shell spaces in profile names survive, e.g. --cookies-from-browser 'chrome::Profile 1'.
4. Remember the first colon switches to PROFILE and '::' switches to CONTAINER — do not use '::' for profiles.

Example fix

# before
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser 'chrome:' URL
# ValueError: invalid cookies from browser arguments: chrome:

# after
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser 'chrome::Default' URL   # BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]

import re

BROWSER_SPEC_RE = re.compile(r'(?x)(?P<name>[^+:]+)(?:\s*\+\s*(?P<keyring>[^:]+))?(?:\s*:\s*(?!:)(?P<profile>.+?))?(?:\s*::\s*(?P<container>.+))?')

def parse_spec(spec):
    m = BROWSER_SPEC_RE.fullmatch(spec)
    if m is None:
        raise ValueError(f'invalid cookies from browser arguments: {spec}')
    return m.group('name', 'keyring', 'profile', 'container')

When it happens

Trigger: --cookies-from-browser 'chrome:' (trailing colon with nothing after it); ':profile' (empty browser name); 'chrome+' (empty keyring); 'chrome:::x' (extra colons); browser names containing '+' such as 'chromium+beta'. Note 'chrome::Default' is valid — the double-colon form is the container slot.

Common situations: Confusing the one-colon (profile) and two-colon (container) separators; trailing separators from shell variable expansion (${BROWSER}: with empty profile); passing URLs or paths instead of a browser spec.

Related errors

• unsupported browser specified for cookies: "{browser_name}".
• unsupported keyring specified for cookies: "{keyring}". Supp
• unknown browser: {browser_name}
• invalid {name} "{value}" given
• {max_name} "{max_val}" must be must be greater than or equal

AI-assisted analysis of yt-dlp/yt-dlp@81ecd58b13 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5ea64cf78c2ba509. Report an issue: GitHub.