ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

Simplestream ID not found

Error message

Simplestream ID not found

What it means

Raised by the GB News extractor when the regex for the simplestream <div> matched on the webpage but the matched element has no data-id attribute. It is raised without expected=True, so youtube-dl treats it as an unexpected extractor failure and asks for a bug report.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/gbnews.py:81

            data-id="GB001"
            data-type="vod"
            data-key="3Li3Nt2Qs8Ct3Xq9Fi5Uy0Mb2Bj0Qs"
            data-token="f9c317c727dc07f515b20036c8ef14a6"
            data-expiry="1624300052"
            data-uvid="37900558"
            data-poster="https://thumbnails.simplestreamcdn.com/gbnews/ondemand/37900558.jpg?width=700&"
            data-npaw="false"
            data-env="production">
        '''
        # exception if no match
        video_data = self._search_regex(
            r'(<div\s[^>]*\bclass\s*=\s*(\'|")(?!.*sidebar\b)simplestream(?:\s[\s\w$-]*)?\2[^>]*>)',
            webpage, 'video data')

        video_data = extract_attributes(video_data)
        ss_id = video_data.get('data-id')
        if not ss_id:
            raise ExtractorError('Simplestream ID not found')

        json_data = self._download_json(
            self._SSMP_URL, display_id,
            note='Downloading Simplestream JSON metadata',
            errnote='Unable to download Simplestream JSON metadata',
            query={
                'id': ss_id,
                'env': video_data.get('data-env', 'production'),
            }, fatal=False)

        meta_url = traverse_obj(json_data, ('response', 'api_hostname'))
        if not meta_url:
            raise ExtractorError('No API host found')

        uvid = video_data['data-uvid']
        dtype = video_data.get('data-type')
        stream_data = self._download_json(
            '%s/api/%s/stream/%s' % (meta_url, 'show' if dtype == 'vod' else dtype, uvid),

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

1. Update youtube-dl/yt-dlp to the latest version (markup-change fixes land quickly)
2. Open the page in a browser, inspect the simplestream div, and confirm which attribute now carries the Simplestream ID
3. If broken in the latest version, report the issue with the full -v output and the URL
4. As a workaround, grab the stream URL from browser devtools (the /api/.../stream/<uvid> call) and pass it directly

import re
from youtube_dl.utils import extract_attributes
m = re.search(r'(<div\s[^>]*\bclass\s*=\s*(\'|\")(?!.*sidebar\\b)simplestream(?:\s[\s\w$-]*)?\2[^>]*>)', html)
if m and not extract_attributes(m.group(1)).get('data-id'):
    print('Page markup lacks data-id; extractor will fail')

def has_simplestream_id(webpage):
    m = re.search(r'class\s*=\s*[\"\']simplestream', webpage)
    return bool(m) and 'data-id=' in webpage

try:
    info = ydl.extract_info(gbnews_url)
except DownloadError as e:
    if 'Simplestream ID not found' in str(e):
        report_site_markup_change(url)  # upstream bug, not user error
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Extracting any GB News (gbnews.py) video/show page where the simplestream player div exists but its data-id attribute was renamed or removed, or where the regex matched a different simplestream container (e.g. a sidebar-adjacent block) that lacks data-id.

Common situations: GB News changes its embed markup, ships an A/B-tested player, or serves an error/consent page that still contains a partial simplestream div. Also occurs on youtube-dl versions predating a markup change.

Related errors

• No API host found
• Unsupported URL: %s
• Redirect loop: %s
• No sources found for video %s. Maybe a plain image?
• Can't find any video

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/51fcf17419811cea. Report an issue: GitHub.