ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

This Tumblr may contain sensitive media. Disable safe mode i

Error message

This Tumblr may contain sensitive media. Disable safe mode in your account settings at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/account#safe_mode

What it means

Raised by TumblrIE when, after fetching the post, the final redirect URL points at tumblr.com/safe-mode: Tumblr flagged the blog as containing sensitive media and is gating it behind the (logged-in) safe-mode toggle. Expected=True; the message tells the user to disable safe mode in account settings.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/tumblr.py:155

                'login errors', default='[]'),
            None, fatal=False)
        if login_errors:
            raise ExtractorError(
                'Unable to login: %s' % login_errors[0], expected=True)

        self.report_warning('Login has probably failed')

    def _real_extract(self, url):
        m_url = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
        video_id = m_url.group('id')
        blog = m_url.group('blog_name')

        url = 'http://%s.tumblr.com/post/%s/' % (blog, video_id)
        webpage, urlh = self._download_webpage_handle(url, video_id)

        redirect_url = urlh.geturl()
        if 'tumblr.com/safe-mode' in redirect_url or redirect_url.startswith('/safe-mode'):
            raise ExtractorError(
                'This Tumblr may contain sensitive media. '
                'Disable safe mode in your account settings '
                'at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/account#safe_mode',
                expected=True)

        iframe_url = self._search_regex(
            r'src=\'(https?://www\.tumblr\.com/video/[^\']+)\'',
            webpage, 'iframe url', default=None)
        if iframe_url is None:
            return self.url_result(redirect_url, 'Generic')

        iframe = self._download_webpage(iframe_url, video_id, 'Downloading iframe page')

        duration = None
        sources = []

        sd_url = self._search_regex(
            r'<source[^>]+src=(["\'])(?P<url>.+?)\1', iframe,

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

Log in to Tumblr in a browser, disable safe mode at tumblr.com/settings/account#safe_mode, export cookies, and run with --cookies (yt-dlp)
Verify the blog still exists; if it was removed, the redirect also lands on safe-mode and no fix exists
Catch this expected error in batch jobs and tag URLs as sensitive-flagged
Update to yt-dlp for current Tumblr handling

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try:
    ydl.extract_info(tumblr_post_url)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if e.expected and 'safe mode' in str(e):
        mark_sensitive(blog)  # or retry with authenticated, safe-mode-off cookies

Prevention

Log in and disable safe mode, then export cookies before extraction
Sensitive-flagged blogs need an authorized session; anonymous access always fails
Note the blog may simply be deleted — verify in a browser

When it happens

Trigger: Downloading a post on an adult-flagged Tumblr blog while not logged in (or with safe mode on): _download_webpage_handle follows the redirect to /safe-mode and the extractor aborts.

Common situations: NSFW-flagged blogs after the 2018 Tumblr content-policy changes; logged-out access to any sensitive-flagged blog; safe mode default-on for anonymous users. Since the policy changes, many such blogs are deleted outright (redirect persists, so the error still fires).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/09a58d8a8a276ac9. Report an issue: GitHub.