ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

This video is DRM protected.

Error message

This video is DRM protected.

What it means

RaiIE._real_extract downloads the video JSON at {base}.json and raises ExtractorError('This video is DRM protected.', expected=True) when try_get finds a dict at either media['rights_management']['rights']['drm'] or media['program_info']['rights_management']['rights']['drm']. Rai marks some content (films, premium) with DRM rights metadata, which youtube-dl cannot process, so it aborts before resolving the relinker URL.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/rai.py:283

        'only_matching': True,
    }, {
        # DRM protected
        'url': 'https://www.raiplay.it/video/2020/09/Lo-straordinario-mondo-di-Zoey-S1E1-Lo-straordinario-potere-di-Zoey-ed493918-1d32-44b7-8454-862e473d00ff.html',
        'only_matching': True,
    }]

    def _real_extract(self, url):
        base, video_id = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url).groups()

        media = self._download_json(
            base + '.json', video_id, 'Downloading video JSON')

        if try_get(
                media,
                (lambda x: x['rights_management']['rights']['drm'],
                 lambda x: x['program_info']['rights_management']['rights']['drm']),
                dict):
            raise ExtractorError('This video is DRM protected.', expected=True)

        title = media['name']

        video = media['video']

        relinker_info = self._extract_relinker_info(video['content_url'], video_id)
        self._sort_formats(relinker_info['formats'])

        thumbnails = []
        for _, value in media.get('images', {}).items():
            if value:
                thumbnails.append({
                    'url': urljoin(url, value),
                })

        date_published = media.get('date_published')
        time_published = media.get('time_published')
        if date_published and time_published:

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

  1. No youtube-dl-side workaround — DRM streams cannot be extracted; use RaiPlay's official player.
  2. Check whether a free, unprotected version of the same content exists (different episode/clip URL).
  3. Update youtube-dl in case the DRM-flag interpretation or JSON layout changed.
  4. Skip such URLs in automated runs by catching this expected error.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try:
    info = ydl.extract_info(url)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if 'DRM protected' in str(e):
        skip_permanently(url)

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Extracting a raiplay.it/rai.it video whose JSON metadata includes a non-empty drm object under rights_management.rights (checked at two possible locations, since the key lives under program_info on some page types).

Common situations: RaiPlay movies and flagship series that are fair-play/Widevine protected; users pasting links from the RaiPlay apps; content that moved from free to premium/DRM after a rights change.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ff114b86ce9bd51b. Report an issue: GitHub.