Why a video won't download: every error message and what to do
A video downloader failed? Find your error in one table: what it means, whether trying again helps, and the fix that works. From our own 46 error codes.
In short
A video usually will not download for one of four reasons: the link is wrong, the post is private, deleted, live or blocked in the downloader's country, the site is refusing the downloader for now, or the file is over a limit. The error message tells you which one. Only the third gets better if you wait.
You paste a link, press the button, and get an error instead of a video. Most guides answer this with the same list: update the app, check your internet, turn off your antivirus. For a downloader website, almost none of that helps. The error message already tells you what went wrong. This page explains every message our own downloader can show, what each one means, and which ones are worth trying again.
Find your error message
Find the words you see in the first column. The answer to "should I try again?" is in the third column, because for most errors it is no.
| What you see | What it means | Try again? | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| "We could not recognise that link as a video" | The link is not a video address, or the site is not supported | No | Copy the link of the video itself, from Share or the address bar. Check the supported sites |
| "That link is not a single post" | You copied a profile, a feed or a home page | No | Open the video so it plays, then copy its link |
| "Private or needs a login" | Only signed-in or approved people can see it | No | Only public videos can be saved. Ask the owner, or download your own video from the site's settings |
| "Could not be found" | Deleted, or the link was cut short | No | Open the link in your browser. If it does not play there, it is gone |
| "No video in this post" | The post has only photos or text | No | Use the cover picture option for a photo |
| "Live stream that is still going on" | It is live right now | Later | Wait until it ends; the replay can be saved once the site has it |
| "Blocks this video in the country our server is in" | A country block, not a fault | No | Try another video. See below |
| "Limiting how often it answers" | The site thinks there are too many requests | Yes, in 5 to 10 minutes | Wait, and download fewer videos at once |
| "Refused to send the file itself" | The site said "403 Forbidden" for the file | Yes, in a minute | Try again, or pick a lower quality or the MP3 |
| "Refusing our download server" | YouTube or Reddit refuse our server's address | No, not on the website | Use the free app, which downloads from your own connection |
| "Took too long to answer" | The site was slow or down | Yes | Try again in a minute |
| "Longer than the limit" | Over 3 hours | No | Pick a shorter video, or the MP3 |
| "Larger than the size limit" | Over 1 GB | No | Pick 720p or the MP3 |
| "Not offered in the quality you picked" | That size does not exist for this video | No | Pick another quality, or Best available |
| "Too many requests" | Over 15 links a minute from you | Yes, in a minute | Wait one minute |
| "This download button has expired" | More than 30 minutes since you read the link | No | Paste the link again and download straight away |
| "Something we did not expect" | The site answered in a way we do not know | Yes, once | Try again, then check the video plays in your browser |
Our server knows 46 error codes, and every one comes with its own fix, so no error reaches the page without a next step. The table shows the ones you are most likely to meet. A few others only appear in the desktop app or with our LinkedIn sign-in on your own computer.
The four kinds of failure
Every failure comes from one of four places, and only one of them gets better if you wait.
- The link. The address is incomplete, points at a profile instead of a video, or belongs to a site we do not read. Trying again never fixes this; copying the right link does.
- The post. It is private, deleted, still live, has no video, or is blocked in one country. This is the post's real state, and no downloader can change it.
- The site pushing back. The site is busy, limits how often it answers, or refuses one server's address. This is the only kind where waiting helps, and even then not always.
- The limits. A video over 3 hours, a file over 1 GB, or too many requests in a minute. These are our rules, and the fix is a smaller choice or a short wait.
Knowing which of the four you are in saves you from pressing Try again ten times on a video that was deleted last week.
It plays for me, so why does the download fail?
An online downloader does not use your phone or your account. When you paste a link, our server asks the site for the video. That server is different from you in three ways, and each one can make the answer different.
| Your browser | A downloader's server | |
|---|---|---|
| Signed in | Often, to your own account | Never |
| Country | Where you are | Where the server is (ours is in Finland) |
| Kind of address | Home or mobile connection | Data-centre address |
Sign-in. A private video is meant for a few people only. YouTube's help page says it plainly: "Private videos and playlists can only be seen by you and whomever you choose." TikTok says that with a private account, the owner approves who can "watch your videos", and that people "won't be able to … download your posts". If you can see a video only because you follow someone, a downloader that is signed in to nobody cannot see it.
Country. Sites can show a video in one country and hide it in another. YouTube's help page on Content ID says a copyright owner can block, earn from, or track a video, and "any of these actions can be geography-specific". So a video can play for you and be blocked where our server is, or the other way round. Our message says "the country our server is in" on purpose, because that may not be your country.
Kind of address. Some sites trust data-centre addresses far less than home connections, because download tools and robots use them. YouTube and Reddit refuse our server's address completely, and our guide on YouTube's "not a bot" message shows the test. This is why the same video can download from a program on your computer and fail on a website.
When the site says no: 403, 429 and bot checks
The numbers in these errors come from the rules of the web itself, and each one means something exact.
| Code | Name | What the standard says | What it usually means for a download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 403 | Forbidden | "the server understood the request but refuses to fulfill it" (RFC 9110) | The site showed the video's details but will not send the file |
| 404 | Not Found | no "current representation for the target resource" | Deleted, or a wrong link |
| 410 | Gone | the same, and it is not coming back | Deleted for good, or an expired download link |
| 429 | Too Many Requests | "the user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time" (RFC 6585) | Slow down; the block is usually short |
A 403 often surprises people, because reading the link worked. Reading a video and getting its file are two separate requests, and a site can say yes to the first and no to the second. That is why Raptor Downloader asks for the first 1 KB of the real file before you press Download, using the same connection the download will use. If the site refuses that first kilobyte, you see the problem and its fix before you wait for anything.
A 429 is the one error where patience works. The standard lets a site add a "Retry-After" header that says how long to wait, but it does not have to. When a site answers 429 during a download on our server, that video waits and tries again by itself after 1, 3 and 6 minutes before it gives up.
"Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" is YouTube's own version of a refusal. On a data-centre server it usually does not go away by waiting. On a home connection it is often a short block, like a 429.
What we measured
We sent links that fail for known reasons through our own error sorting, to see which message a visitor would really get. This was on 8 October 2026, from a home connection in Pakistan, with yt-dlp 2026.08.19 (the download engine we use). The script is measure_error_codes.py in our tooling.
| Link we tried | yt-dlp's own words | Message our site showed |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube video that never existed | "This video is unavailable" | Could not be found |
| Dailymotion video that never existed | "Not found." | Could not be found |
| Twitch clip that never existed | "This clip is no longer available" | Something we did not expect (fixed: now Could not be found) |
| YouTube stream that ended with no replay | "This live stream recording is not available." | Something we did not expect (fixed: now Could not be found) |
| TikTok video that never existed | "Unexpected response from webpage request" | Something we did not expect |
The test found two real mistakes in our own sorting: a deleted Twitch clip and an ended YouTube stream both got the vague "something we did not expect" message, with the advice to try again. Trying again could never help, so we changed both to "could not be found", with the advice to open the link in your browser. TikTok gives no clear answer for a missing video, so it still shows the general message. We would rather say "we are not sure" than guess.
This is the main point of the page. A vague error hides a precise cause. If a downloader only ever says "failed", you cannot tell a deleted video from a busy server.
Advice you can skip
Several fixes in popular guides were written for desktop programs. They do nothing for a downloader website, and some are risky.
| Common advice | Does it help on a website? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "Update your downloader" | No | There is nothing on your device to update. We update our download engine every day |
| "Turn off your antivirus or firewall" | No, and it is risky | The download happens on our server. Your antivirus is not involved until the finished file arrives |
| "Clear your cache" | Rarely | Only if the page itself will not load |
| "Use a VPN" | We do not recommend it | It does not change our server's country, and getting around a country block can break a site's terms |
| "Sign in to the downloader with your account" | Never | Your login is a key to your whole account. We never ask for it |
| "Check your internet connection" | Only for one message | If you see "check your internet connection", yes. For every other message the problem is elsewhere |
What no downloader should do for you
Some failures are not faults. They are the site doing what the video's owner asked. Raptor Downloader saves only what anyone can see without signing in. We do not get around logins, paywalls, paid courses, copy protection (DRM) or privacy settings, and a downloader that offers to is taking a risk with your account or with the law.
If the video is yours, the site's own settings usually let you download it. If it belongs to someone else, ask them for the file. Saving a public video is also not the same as being allowed to reuse it: copyright and the site's terms still apply to what you do with the file.
YouTube and Reddit
On our website, YouTube and Reddit links show "refusing our download server" at once, instead of making you wait for a failure. Both sites refuse our server's data-centre address, as described above, and we do not route around that. The free Raptor Downloader app for Windows and Mac runs the same engine on your own computer, with your own connection, and YouTube and Reddit work there. TikTok, X, Twitch, Bilibili and more than twenty other sites work on the website as normal, with the same check before every download.
Questions people ask
Why is my video downloader not working?
Read the error message first: it names the cause. Most failures are the post (private, deleted, still live, blocked in one country), the site refusing the downloader's server for a while, or a size or length limit. Updating apps or turning off your antivirus fixes none of these on a website downloader.
Why does it say the video is unavailable when it plays for me?
An online downloader asks for the video from its own server, not from your phone. That server is not signed in to your account, sits in a different country, and has a data-centre address that some sites trust less. Any of the three can block it while you can still watch.
Why does the download start and then fail?
Reading a link and fetching the file are two separate requests. A site can show the video's details and still refuse the file itself with a "403 Forbidden" answer. Press Try again after a minute, or pick a lower quality or the MP3.
Can I download a private video?
No. A private video can only be seen by the people its owner chose, and a downloader that is not one of them cannot get it. If it is your own video, download it from the site's own settings, or make it public for a moment.
Will a VPN fix a video that is blocked in my country?
We do not recommend it. A country block is usually a licence or a legal order, and getting around it can break the site's terms. Try a different video, or ask the person who posted it for a copy.
Why did my download link expire?
On Raptor Downloader, download buttons work for 30 minutes after you read a link, and finished files are kept for about an hour. After that, paste the video link again for fresh buttons.
Why does it say I am sending too many requests?
Our site reads about 15 links a minute for each visitor so one person cannot slow it down for everyone. Wait one minute. Lists of many links wait their turn by themselves.
Why do YouTube and Reddit not work on Raptor Downloader's website?
Both refuse our server's data-centre address at the moment, so the website says so instead of failing. The free Raptor Downloader app for Windows and Mac downloads from your own connection, where they work.
Sources
- RFC 9110, HTTP Semantics: 15.5.4 403 Forbidden, 15.5.5 404 Not Found, 15.5.11 410 Gone (IETF)
- RFC 6585, Additional HTTP Status Codes: 4. 429 Too Many Requests (IETF)
- YouTube Help: Change video privacy settings (public, unlisted, private)
- YouTube Help: How Content ID works (actions can be geography-specific)
- TikTok Support: Choosing between a private or public account
First published . Written and checked by the Raptor Downloader team. Download only videos you own or have permission to use. Terms · Copyright and takedowns