[BUG] - Video playback fails with "Couldn't get player path"

[frankco99]

Hello,
The video cannot be played. The error returned when requesting the streaming URL is:

No streaming URL
First streaming URL doesn't work, trying a new one
Error while trying to load video: ResponseError(step: YouTubeKit.PlayerProcessing.Player.ResponseError.StepType.decodeData, reason: "Couldn't get player path.")

Could you please check this issue?
Thank you.

[b5i]

Hello! Thank you for raising this issue, can you retry using branch b5i-fix-base-js and tell me if you still encounter the issue?

Thank you

[frankco99]

I tried both branches, but it seems that YouTube has recently changed the response format.

Currently, YouTubeKit can still retrieve StreamingInfos, but streamingURL is returned as nil. However, the response contains serverAbrStreamingURL and videoPlaybackUstreamerConfig.

This prevents the app from obtaining a streaming URL to play the video and results in the No streaming URL error.

[b5i]

Yes, it seems like YouTube now enforces using cookies or PO token to give m3u8. This measure seems to be temporary for me, I got the same error as you and then, 1h after, it works again...
I'll enable sending cookies by default for VideoInfosResponse so that it should work as long as you're authenticated.
Let me know if it fixes the error for you.
Regarding serverAbrStreamingURL and videoPlaybackUstreamerConfig, I'm currently testing prototypes of SABR/UMP native player implementations (that's the reason I added them), so it would be possible to play videos without the HLS stream. First results are encouraging!

[b5i]

Please try branch b5i-patch-1.

[frankco99]

Thanks for the quick fix! Unfortunately, c725f21 (cookies enabled) doesn't fix it for me — I'm signed in and the cookies are being sent, but the watch page still returns no hlsManifestUrl.

Setup: Atwy main + YouTubeKit b5i-patch-1 @ c725f21, iOS 26.5 Simulator

What I did: I added a small diagnostic log in YTAVPlayerItem.init, right after fetchStreamingInfosThrowing(), to dump the YTM.cookies state and the parsed VideoInfosResponse.

Result for kJQP7kiw5Fk (Despacito) — same for OoUzg2FRAdo:

[StreamingDiag] video=kJQP7kiw5Fk stage=watch-page (WEB, cookies=true)
  cookies: isEmpty=false length=266 alwaysUseCookies=true
  visitorData: isEmpty=false
  title=Luis Fonsi - Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee isLive=false
  streamingURL(hlsManifestUrl)=nil
  serverAbrStreamingURL(SABR)=true ustreamerConfig=true
  defaultFormats=0 downloadFormats(adaptive)=24 client=WEB/2.20260817.01.00
  videoURLsExpireAt=2026-08-19 08:59:40 +0000

So playabilityStatus is OK, but streamingData only contains adaptiveFormats + serverAbrStreamingUrl (+ videoPlaybackUstreamerConfig); there is no hlsManifestUrl and no progressive formats. Sending the logged-in cookies didn't change the result.

It has now been over 4 hours for me (first repro at around 05:15 local time, still failing at 10:02), so it doesn't seem to be temporary in my region.