ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

% said: %s

Error message

% said: %s

What it means

Raised by the Uplynk extractor when the asset-info endpoint (content.uplynk.com/player/assetinfo/<path>.json) returns a JSON object with error==1; the site's own 'msg' text is propagated. It is an expected, site-side rejection (geo-block, expired asset, bad asset path) rather than a download bug. Note the format string is '% said: %s' — the leading IE name placeholder is missing its 's', so the literal message renders with a stray single '%' and the extractor name never appears.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/uplynk.py:42

        'params': {
            # m3u8 download
            'skip_download': True,
        },
    }

    def _extract_uplynk_info(self, uplynk_content_url):
        path, external_id, video_id, session_id = re.match(UplynkIE._VALID_URL, uplynk_content_url).groups()
        display_id = video_id or external_id
        formats = self._extract_m3u8_formats(
            'http://content.uplynk.com/%s.m3u8' % path,
            display_id, 'mp4', 'm3u8_native')
        if session_id:
            for f in formats:
                f['extra_param_to_segment_url'] = 'pbs=' + session_id
        self._sort_formats(formats)
        asset = self._download_json('http://content.uplynk.com/player/assetinfo/%s.json' % path, display_id)
        if asset.get('error') == 1:
            raise ExtractorError('% said: %s' % (self.IE_NAME, asset['msg']), expected=True)

        return {
            'id': asset['asset'],
            'title': asset['desc'],
            'thumbnail': asset.get('default_poster_url'),
            'duration': float_or_none(asset.get('duration')),
            'uploader_id': asset.get('owner'),
            'formats': formats,
        }

    def _real_extract(self, url):
        return self._extract_uplynk_info(url)


class UplynkPreplayIE(UplynkIE):
    IE_NAME = 'uplynk:preplay'
    _VALID_URL = r'https?://.*?\.uplynk\.com/preplay2?/(?P<path>ext/[0-9a-f]{32}/(?P<external_id>[^/?&]+)|(?P<id>[0-9a-f]{32}))\.json'
    _TEST = None

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

  1. Verify the asset still plays in a browser at the same content.uplynk.com URL; if it 404s there, the video is gone and no code fix applies.
  2. Confirm the path/external_id parsed from the URL matches the live embed (the regex groups feed the assetinfo request directly).
  3. If maintaining the extractor, fix the format typo: '%s said: %s' so the message includes the extractor name and renders correctly.
  4. Catch ExtractorError with expected=True and surface asset['msg'] to the user instead of retrying.

Example fix

// before (uplynk.py:42)
raise ExtractorError('% said: %s' % (self.IE_NAME, asset['msg']), expected=True)
// after
raise ExtractorError('%s said: %s' % (self.IE_NAME, asset['msg']), expected=True)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import json, urllib.request
path = '...'  # asset path from URL
req = urllib.request.Request('http://content.uplynk.com/player/assetinfo/%s.json' % path)
asset = json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req))
if asset.get('error') == 1:
    print('asset rejected:', asset.get('msg'))  # skip before invoking the extractor

Try / catch

from youtube_dl.utils import ExtractorError
try:
    ydl.extract_info(url)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if e.expected and 'said:' in str(e):
        log_skip(url, str(e))  # site-side rejection: permanent, do not retry
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling _extract_uplynk_info() on an uplynk content URL whose assetinfo JSON contains {"error": 1, "msg": ...} — e.g. expired/revoked asset, wrong external id, or a CMS-side takedown.

Common situations: Extracting old uplynk.com or embed links whose assets were decommissioned; typo'd video id in the URL; regional restrictions enforced by the uplynk backend.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/164d96264e3393b3. Report an issue: GitHub.