ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · OSError

Failed to write string

Error message

Failed to write string

What it means

Error "Failed to write string" thrown in ytdl-org/youtube-dl.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/utils.py:3431

        return ((GetFileType(handle) & ~FILE_TYPE_REMOTE) != FILE_TYPE_CHAR
                or GetConsoleMode(handle, ctypes.byref(ctypes.wintypes.DWORD())) == 0)

    if not_a_console(h):
        return False

    def next_nonbmp_pos(s):
        try:
            return next(i for i, c in enumerate(s) if ord(c) > 0xffff)
        except StopIteration:
            return len(s)

    while s:
        count = min(next_nonbmp_pos(s), 1024)

        ret = WriteConsoleW(
            h, s, count if count else 2, ctypes.byref(written), None)
        if ret == 0:
            raise OSError('Failed to write string')
        if not count:  # We just wrote a non-BMP character
            assert written.value == 2
            s = s[1:]
        else:
            assert written.value > 0
            s = s[written.value:]
    return True


def write_string(s, out=None, encoding=None):
    if out is None:
        out = sys.stderr
    assert isinstance(s, compat_str)

    if sys.platform == 'win32' and encoding is None and hasattr(out, 'fileno'):
        if _windows_write_string(s, out):
            return

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

1. Check write permissions and available disk space for the output location.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at youtube_dl/utils.py:3431 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5250b8684e9fac19. Report an issue: GitHub.