1. YouTube Returned No Streams (Most Common)

Symptom: "YouTube didn't return downloadable streams (bot protection)." What's happening: YouTube's anti-bot systems sometimes refuse server requests entirely — no formats, nothing to download. Fix: wait 5–15 minutes and retry. Try a different video to confirm the tool itself is fine. Late-night (US time) throttling is heaviest; mornings work better in my experience.

2. The Link Expired

Symptom: download starts then fails at 0 bytes, or a saved link 404s. Fix: resolve fresh and download immediately. Never bookmark stream URLs.

3. Age-Restricted, Private, or Paid

Symptom: clear error naming the restriction. Fix: none via any free tool — these need an authenticated session. For your own private videos, use YouTube Studio's download button instead.

4. It's Live or a Premiere Countdown

Symptom: "live streams can't be downloaded." Fix: wait until the stream ends and YouTube processes the replay (can take minutes to hours for long streams), then retry.

5. Wrong or Truncated Link

Symptom: "doesn't look like a YouTube link" or "could not read." Fix: re-copy via Share. The 11-character video ID (after v= or youtu.be/) must be intact — that's the only part that matters.

6. Free Limit Used Up

Symptom: "limit reached." Fix: tomorrow's reset or Pro for unlimited.

7. MP3 Conversion Seems Stuck

Symptom: Pro MP3 spins for minutes on a 2-hour video. What's happening: the server downloads the full audio track first, then converts. Fix: give it up to ~3 minutes for very long videos; don't spam-click (each click restarts the queue and hits the rate limit). Short videos finish in seconds.

FAQ