Public and unlisted videos normally need no Google sign-in. Use this section only when a video requires your account.
Cookies are optional. Try downloading first; save a cookies.txt file if YouTube asks you to sign in or confirm you are not a bot. Saved cookies are reused for YouTube MP4 and MP3 downloads.
How do I get the cookies file?
- Install Get cookies.txt LOCALLY for Chrome or cookies.txt for Firefox. Enable the extension in private/incognito windows in your browser's extension settings.
- Open a new private/incognito window, sign into YouTube, and check that you can play the video.
- In that same tab, open youtube.com/robots.txt by copying its address into the private tab. Keep this as the only private tab.
- Open the extension and export only the youtube.com cookies in Netscape cookies.txt format, not JSON. Save the .txt file in Downloads, then close the private window.
- Use Cookies file below to select the downloaded .txt file, then press Connect YouTube (or Refresh YouTube access). Retry Fetch media.
Repeat if YouTube asks for verification again. Cookies may expire, and saving them cannot guarantee a download.
This file contains sign-in access. Keep it private; upload it only to your own toolbox. Clear saved cookies below to remove the toolbox's copy.
Official YouTube cookie export guide