I decided to give it another shot and this fixed it for me:
moved yt-dlp to another folder other than %appdata% (in my case i just put the yt-dlp.exe file in C:\VRCTools)
create a .symlink in the %appdata% folder that redirects to my newly created folder. You can use this command in powershell (run with administrator rights and change the paths to your corresponding paths):
apparently Unity had trouble with running yt-dlp from my %appdata% folder but i’m not sure why. I’m also not sure if the above fix will help you but i’ll just add it here so others can try.
it possible they messed up some permissions and failing to write files in the folder, no one from vrc team is replying so I cant tell where they are trying to save it.
We update the yt-dlp binary quite often, but these updates depend on the upstream project. If a fix does not exist in the source program, then our downstream version will also not have a fix.
In other words, we have to wait for the people who make yt-dlp to fix it, then we update our version.
We update this version as often as possible, usually within a day or so of issues being reported and a fix being available. If an issue is still happening days later, it is almost certainly because we are waiting on the upstream code to be fixed!
In a normal setup, the folder in which the tool is downloaded and stored permits execution. Of course, if the user or an application on the user’s computer modifies these permissions, VRChat cannot override them.
Their tool works correctly on my pc. And yours doesnt. So no need to avoid responsibility. Help them to improve debugging messages so we will know exact reason.
after months i think i finally got it to work, i went to the gith and latest-release, downloaded the windowns version and replace the app it has on the “tools” folder from vrchat and now the yt is working for me, dont know who that may help, but helped me
i made sure to keep the folder it comes with the extract too from the windown’s version
I think this is an issue with youtube themselves. On discord, NO embeds work anymore, and just say “please login so we know you aren’t a bot” and wont let you view it atall or even login, meaning NO youtube embeds work. and I’m guessing this translates into vrchat too :[ so unless vrc finds a way to buypass it, idk if it will fix untill youtube themselves does something.
(as of 2025 rn, just realised this was an older post. Quest have it fine, but Pc particurly doesnt work rn for me and others)
I see Release 2025.04.30 was made available on yt-dlp. If this is the one you got then there seems to be hope that this is fixed.
While each VRC user could go through the steps of downloading and installing it isn’t really practical which is why VRC needs to incorporate the latest versions into their release.
I’m going to install the update on my API server and will give it a test shortly. Hopefully it is all working again.
Just fixed this issue myself by manually downloading the latest ffmpeg binaries and placing them in the folder with the yt-dlp.exe binary. I think they can technically be anywhere on your computer, but I placed them there to keep track of them. Not sure if I can post links, but it’s the ffmpeg-git-essentials.7z download from here: Builds - CODEX FFMPEG @ gyan.dev
I’ve been dealing with this issue for 2 months, and it’s been incredibly frustrating.
I tried fixing it myself using suggestions from forum threads and did everything I could, but nothing worked.
Until I finally solved it.
So now I want to share how I fixed the video playback error. Keep in mind that this solution might not work for everyone I’m just sharing my personal fix that might help you. I’ll need to explain in detail for you to understand it.
I had already tried every solution mentioned in the forums, but none of them worked NOT A SINGLE ONE! (Install new windows, clearing the cache files, reinstalling the game, installing yt-dlp.exe with preventing overwrite) none of it worked.
So I started to wonder… maybe the problem is with my home internet connection.
I tried accessing VRChat on my laptop using my home Wi-Fi — and the same error still appeared.
Then I tried again, this time connecting my laptop to the internet using mobile hotspot and surprisingly, it worked!!
I repeated this on my PC by unplugging the LAN cable and sharing mobile internet via USB and it worked again!!!
From all these tests, I realized the problem definitely lies with my home internet setup.
So I accessed my home network settings (Tplinkwifi) and changed the mode from Router Mode to Access Point Mode — and it worked!!!
The video playback error was resolved.
Now, if you’ve read this far, I’ll show you how my home network is connected with a diagram (image shown below).
You’ll see that my network is separated from the main router. I believe the error occurred because of this setup.
If your internet system is similar to mine, this could be why you’re getting the video playback error too.
Try switching to Access Point Mode, or try connecting to Wi-Fi from your phone or use mobile data shared via USB.
If these don’t work for you, then it likely isn’t a problem with your internet setup.
I’m just sharing this method in case it might help someone else.
One last note:
I suspect either EasyAntiCheat or yt-dlp.exe has issues with this kind of internet connection setup. That might explain why the usual fixes from forums didn’t work.
I’m having a similar issue, and I can’t locate the tools folder in VRC if it exists since the updates. I am unable to switch my router to access point since I am using Starlink, and I’m not using a vpn. I have verified files checked to make sure I have all my updates, and I am still having issues. I also tried the video players with just desktop with no change. Is anyone recently also experiencing player issues?
The question, if you are trying to devise a solution is, “is anyone not having issues with playing YouTube videos in VRC.”
The way one gathers evidence isn’t for each person to try their homebrew version of “voodoo”. I don’t believe the people who write “I’ve fixed it” have indeed fixed it much less by the method they’ve tried.
The members here aren’t operating as a group with a common goal (if you haven’t noticed yet). We’re still in the pray to the Internet gods phase.
I see, thank you for letting me know. I interact with 2-4 people on VR so I have a very small sample set. Do you know if it started after an update or do you suppose it might be a network or YouTube issue? I have noticed other problems with VRC in general, and it almost feels like it’s deteriorating as I watch.
Hi there. I’ve been checking everything I can and I don’t believe it is VRC that is the cause of the problem. I believe that something was modified on YouTube. That said however, video player’s are a feature of VRC so they should probably take a moment to address the issue.
I would guess that it is within their control to apply a fix. As far as I can tell it doesn’t have to be a workaround to any changes on YT. They could simply unlock their VRCURL system making them assignable at runtime.
We can type or copy/paste URLs in world and they play. Seems to me that demonstrates that basic YT functionality is still working. What I see “fail” (at least in my system) are redirects. The webpage that YT returns is no longer recognized by the video player.
My guess is that a fix will not be forthcoming so working around it will be the solution.
Hey y’all, I made an app the automatically replaces YT-DLP with the official version when the game launches and it’s completely fixed the video loading issue. Simply replacing it once doesn’t work as VRChat does a version check and overwrites it when the game logs in.
