ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

clean_html(m_error.group('msg'))

Error message

clean_html(m_error.group('msg'))

What it means

Raised by PlayVidIE when the video page contains the '<div class="block-error">' block. The message is clean_html() of the matched 'msg' text — the site's own error heading (e.g. 'This video was deleted' or region notice). Expected=True, so it conveys the site's refusal, verbatim.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/playvid.py:48

        'url': 'http://www.playvid.com/watch/hwb0GpNkzgH',
        'md5': '39d49df503ad7b8f23a4432cbf046477',
        'info_dict': {
            'id': 'hwb0GpNkzgH',
            'ext': 'mp4',
            'title': 'Ellen Euro Cutie Blond Takes a Sexy Survey Get Facial in The Park',
            'age_limit': 18,
            'thumbnail': r're:^https?://.*\.jpg$',
        },
    }]

    def _real_extract(self, url):
        video_id = self._match_id(url)
        webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)

        m_error = re.search(
            r'<div class="block-error">\s*<div class="heading">\s*<div>(?P<msg>.+?)</div>\s*</div>', webpage)
        if m_error:
            raise ExtractorError(clean_html(m_error.group('msg')), expected=True)

        video_title = None
        duration = None
        video_thumbnail = None
        formats = []

        # most of the information is stored in the flashvars
        flashvars = self._html_search_regex(
            r'flashvars="(.+?)"', webpage, 'flashvars')

        infos = compat_urllib_parse_unquote(flashvars).split(r'&')
        for info in infos:
            videovars_match = re.match(r'^video_vars\[(.+?)\]=(.+?)$', info)
            if videovars_match:
                key = videovars_match.group(1)
                val = videovars_match.group(2)

                if key == 'title':

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

  1. Read the raised message — it is the site's own explanation (deleted/private/geo)
  2. Verify the video plays in a browser from the same IP
  3. If the regex broke after a site redesign, update yt-dlp
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try:
    info = ydl.extract_info(url)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if e.expected:  # message is the site's own block-error heading
        log.info('PlayVid said: %s', e)

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Downloading a playvid.com URL whose page renders the block-error div: removed video, private video, or an error notice the site shows instead of flashvars.

Common situations: Adult content removed for TOS/DMCA; URLs from stale playlists; site template change renaming the div so the regex misses and you instead get a 'flashvars' search failure.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5e30bd738e2f4afd. Report an issue: GitHub.