ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

YandexMusic has considered youtube-dl requests automated and

Error message

YandexMusic has considered youtube-dl requests automated and asks you to solve a CAPTCHA. You can either wait for some time until unblocked and optionally use --sleep-interval in future or alternatively you can go to https://music.yandex.ru/ solve CAPTCHA, then export cookies and pass cookie file to youtube-dl with --cookies

What it means

Raised by YandexMusicBaseIE when the service decides requests are automated: either an API response has type == 'captcha' or a 'captcha' key, or a downloaded webpage contains the Russian 'requests from your IP look automatic' notice. The long message instructs the user to wait, use --sleep-interval, or solve the CAPTCHA in a browser and supply cookies.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/yandexmusic.py:32

    try_get,
)


class YandexMusicBaseIE(InfoExtractor):
    _VALID_URL_BASE = r'https?://music\.yandex\.(?P<tld>ru|kz|ua|by|com)'

    @staticmethod
    def _handle_error(response):
        if isinstance(response, dict):
            error = response.get('error')
            if error:
                raise ExtractorError(error, expected=True)
            if response.get('type') == 'captcha' or 'captcha' in response:
                YandexMusicBaseIE._raise_captcha()

    @staticmethod
    def _raise_captcha():
        raise ExtractorError(
            'YandexMusic has considered youtube-dl requests automated and '
            'asks you to solve a CAPTCHA. You can either wait for some '
            'time until unblocked and optionally use --sleep-interval '
            'in future or alternatively you can go to https://music.yandex.ru/ '
            'solve CAPTCHA, then export cookies and pass cookie file to '
            'youtube-dl with --cookies',
            expected=True)

    def _download_webpage_handle(self, *args, **kwargs):
        webpage = super(YandexMusicBaseIE, self)._download_webpage_handle(*args, **kwargs)
        if 'Нам очень жаль, но&nbsp;запросы, поступившие с&nbsp;вашего IP-адреса, похожи на&nbsp;автоматические.' in webpage:
            self._raise_captcha()
        return webpage

    def _download_json(self, *args, **kwargs):
        response = super(YandexMusicBaseIE, self)._download_json(*args, **kwargs)
        self._handle_error(response)
        return response

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

Solve the CAPTCHA at https://music.yandex.ru/ in a browser, export cookies, and pass them with --cookies.
Use --sleep-interval (and --max-sleep-interval) to slow requests below detection thresholds.
Wait some time for the IP block to lift, or switch egress IP.
Reduce batch size and avoid parallel downloads against Yandex.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

try:
    info = ydl.extract_info(url)
except ExtractorError as e:
    if 'CAPTCHA' in str(e):
        pause_pipeline()
        prompt_user_for_cookies()
        requeue_after.cookies_updated(url)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

Always set --sleep-interval / --max-sleep-interval when downloading from Yandex Music.
Solve the CAPTCHA once in a browser, export cookies, and pass them via --cookies.
Avoid parallel workers against music.yandex.*; sequential slow requests stay under detection.

When it happens

Trigger: Hammering music.yandex.* endpoints so the API starts returning captcha-typed responses, or the page HTML contains the Russian IP-block notice; both paths funnel into _raise_captcha.

Common situations: Batch-downloading playlists without delays; shared/cloud IPs already flagged by Yandex; CI runners whose egress IPs look bot-like.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f91691ce717be425. Report an issue: GitHub.