ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

Missing "id" field in extractor result

Error message

Missing "id" field in extractor result

What it means

Raised by youtube_dl.utils.xpath_element when an XPath query returns no node, default is not supplied, and fatal=True. It is the library's standard 'required metadata missing' error for XML-based APIs (e.g. in metadata/manifest parsing). The name in the message is the caller-supplied name or the xpath itself, which tells you which piece of metadata the extractor considered mandatory.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py:1649

                # see http://bugs.python.org/issue1646728)
                try:
                    upload_date = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(info_dict[ts_key])
                    info_dict[date_key] = compat_str(upload_date.strftime('%Y%m%d'))
                except (ValueError, OverflowError, OSError):
                    pass

        # Auto generate title fields corresponding to the *_number fields when missing
        # in order to always have clean titles. This is very common for TV series.
        if final:
            for field in ('chapter', 'season', 'episode'):
                if info_dict.get('%s_number' % field) is not None and not info_dict.get(field):
                    info_dict[field] = '%s %d' % (field.capitalize(), info_dict['%s_number' % field])

    def process_video_result(self, info_dict, download=True):
        assert info_dict.get('_type', 'video') == 'video'

        if 'id' not in info_dict:
            raise ExtractorError('Missing "id" field in extractor result')
        if 'title' not in info_dict:
            raise ExtractorError('Missing "title" field in extractor result')

        def report_force_conversion(field, field_not, conversion):
            self.report_warning(
                '"%s" field is not %s - forcing %s conversion, there is an error in extractor'
                % (field, field_not, conversion))

        def sanitize_string_field(info, string_field):
            field = info.get(string_field)
            if field is None or isinstance(field, compat_str):
                return
            report_force_conversion(string_field, 'a string', 'string')
            info[string_field] = compat_str(field)

        def sanitize_numeric_fields(info):
            for numeric_field in self._NUMERIC_FIELDS:
                field = info.get(numeric_field)

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

1. Update youtube-dl / switch to yt-dlp — extractor XPath breakage is fixed in releases, not at your call site.
2. If you call xpath_element yourself, pass a default (e.g. default=None) or fatal=False to make the miss non-fatal and branch on None.
3. Print the raw XML actually received (via --verbose or dumping the response) and adjust the XPath to the current schema; watch for namespaces needing wildcard paths like /*[local-name()='El'].
4. Supply the name= argument so the error identifies the field instead of the raw XPath.

Example fix

# before
title = xpath_text(doc, '//Track/Title', fatal=True)

# after
title = xpath_text(doc, '//Track/Title', name='track title', default=None)
if title is None:
    title = 'unknown'

from youtube_dl.utils import xpath_element

# make the miss non-fatal before it can raise
node = xpath_element(doc, '//Required', name='required node',
                      fatal=False, default=None)
if node is None:
    node = fallback_node_or_skip()

from youtube_dl.utils import ExtractorError, xpath_element
try:
    node = xpath_element(doc, '//Title', fatal=True)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if 'Could not find XML element' in str(e):
        node = None  # degrade gracefully instead of aborting the whole run
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling xpath_element(node, '//RequiredEl', fatal=True) (or omitting default) on a document where the node is absent. In the wild: an extractor expects a mandatory XML field (title, session id, stream node) and the site's API response omits or renames it.

Common situations: Site API schema change renames/moves the element; geo- or auth-conditional responses that omit fields; whitespace/namespace differences making the XPath miss; anti-bot XML instead of real data.

Related errors

• Missing "title" field in extractor result
• No video formats found!
• Failed to get the video URL
• Invalid rendition field.
• Could not find video title

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8203773ed79d4df2. Report an issue: GitHub.