yt-dlp/yt-dlp · error · ExtractorError

Premium videos cannot be downloaded yet.

Error message

Premium videos cannot be downloaded yet.

What it means

ShemarooMeIE scrapes catalog/content ids from the page, POSTs them to users/user_all_lists, and requires status true plus new_play_url/key/stream_key to decrypt the HLS URL. A falsy status means the play URL was withheld — in practice premium (subscription/DRM) titles — so this expected error is raised: such videos are not downloadable by this extractor.

Source

Thrown at yt_dlp/extractor/shemaroome.py:68

        'params': {
            'skip_download': True,
        },
    }]

    def _real_extract(self, url):
        video_id = self._match_id(url).replace('/', '_')
        webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
        title = self._search_regex(r'id=\"ma_title\" value=\"([^\"]+)', webpage, 'title')
        thumbnail = self._og_search_thumbnail(webpage)
        content_def = self._search_regex(r'id=\"content_definition\" value=\"([^\"]+)', webpage, 'content_def')
        catalog_id = self._search_regex(r'id=\"catalog_id\" value=\"([^\"]+)', webpage, 'catalog_id')
        item_category = self._search_regex(r'id=\"item_category\" value=\"([^\"]+)', webpage, 'item_category')
        content_id = self._search_regex(r'id=\"content_id\" value=\"([^\"]+)', webpage, 'content_id')

        data = f'catalog_id={catalog_id}&content_id={content_id}&category={item_category}&content_def={content_def}'
        data_json = self._download_json('https://www.shemaroome.com/users/user_all_lists', video_id, data=data.encode())
        if not data_json.get('status'):
            raise ExtractorError('Premium videos cannot be downloaded yet.', expected=True)
        url_data = base64.b64decode(data_json['new_play_url'])
        key = base64.b64decode(data_json['key'])
        iv = bytes(16)
        m3u8_url = unpad_pkcs7(aes_cbc_decrypt_bytes(url_data, key, iv)).decode('ascii')
        headers = {'stream_key': data_json['stream_key']}
        formats, m3u8_subs = self._extract_m3u8_formats_and_subtitles(m3u8_url, video_id, fatal=False, headers=headers)
        for fmt in formats:
            fmt['http_headers'] = headers

        release_date = self._html_search_regex(
            (r'itemprop="uploadDate">\s*([\d-]+)', r'id="release_date" value="([\d-]+)'),
            webpage, 'release date', fatal=False)

        subtitles = {}
        sub_url = data_json.get('subtitle')
        if sub_url:
            subtitles.setdefault('EN', []).append({
                'url': self._proto_relative_url(sub_url),

View on GitHub (pinned to 81ecd58b13)

Solutions

  1. Verify the title on shemaroome.com: if it is premium, it is simply not supported
  2. If the title is definitely free but still fails, update yt-dlp and report the URL upstream
  3. Do not expect DRM/premium streams from this extractor
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

from yt_dlp.utils import ExtractorError

try:
    info = ydl.extract_info(url, download=False)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if 'Premium videos cannot be downloaded' in str(e):
        log.info('skipping premium title %s', url)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Downloading a ShemarooMe premium title: users/user_all_lists responds with status false, so no new_play_url is issued for the free-tier request.

Common situations: Queueing subscription-only Bollywood titles; free content misclassified after an API change; regional restrictions returning status false.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of yt-dlp/yt-dlp@81ecd58b13 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/266543309e4b4aae. Report an issue: GitHub.