Extremely Slow Requests - Download speeds are 20x slower than what they should be

[r0hin]

const fs = require('fs');
const ytdl = require('ytdl-core');

ytdl('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq6IuZIJhuI', {
  filter: 'audioonly',
}).pipe(fs.createWriteStream('audio.webm'));

The above code successfully gathers information and downloads the video by URL. However, this process is extremely long. When going to the original source googlevideo.com URL in the browser, the audio is able to be downloaded in just a few seconds as opposed to 25+ seconds. It is possible to reduce download times by 90% if you can simulate the chrome browser when performing the download.

You can reproduce this issue by running the above code and taking note of how long it takes. Then running .getInfo() on the same video to return a list of audio URLs. Try opening the URLs in the chrome browser and take note of how quickly the entire progress bar is filled up.

I've faced this issue before and it was previously solved by using a range header but this no longer seems to work. Also, the download speeds remain high on Chrome but seem to falter to YTDL speeds when switching to Firefox.

Thank you for your help.

[gatecrasher777]

See #964 Although it is no longer random, but all the time.

[r0hin]

See #964 Although it is no longer random, but all the time.

I see. If I understand correctly, that sucks. Will there need to be an update every single time YouTube changes the player? How often is this and how sustainable is it?

[dardo82]

I’d like this fixed, what can i do to help? Are there any temporary workarounds?�

[LillieH1000]

YouTube/Google has made a change to make youtube-dl downloading incrediby slow, the only fix is the fork known as yt-dlp but that doesn't have a node version yet.

[dardo82]

I've installed yt-dlp and it works as expected, thanks...

[gatecrasher777]

I see. If I understand correctly, that sucks. Will there need to be an update every single time YouTube changes the player? How often is this and how sustainable is it?

The methodology used in PR #1022 has worked in ytcog without any need to update the code in the past few months. So the method should not require fixing every time a new player is issued.

But there is no guarantee that Google won't continue to throw curve balls that will require code updates in the future. But then, that has always been the case.

[TimeForANinja]

closing as dup of #964