使用youtube_dl下载年龄限制视频报错，如何程序化解决？

我编写了如下Python代码：

from youtube_dl import YoutubeDL

videos = [...]

with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
    ydl.download(videos)

运行时出现如下错误：

WARNING: unable to download video info webpage: HTTP Error 410: Gone
ERROR: Sign in to confirm your age
This video may be inappropriate for some users.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 836, in __extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 534, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py", line 1731, in _real_extract
    raise ExtractorError(reason, expected=True)
youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: Sign in to confirm your age
This video may be inappropriate for some users.

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/main.py", line 53, in <module>
    ydl.download(videos)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 2068, in download
    res = self.extract_info(
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 808, in extract_info
    return self.__extract_info(url, ie, download, extra_info, process)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 847, in __extract_info
    return self.process_ie_result(ie_result, download, extra_info)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 885, in process_ie_result
    return self.extract_info(ie_result['url'],
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 808, in extract_info
    return self.__extract_info(url, ie, download, extra_info, process)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 847, in __extract_info
    return self.process_ie_result(ie_result, download, extra_info)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 933, in process_ie_result
    return self.__process_playlist(ie_result, download)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1067, in __process_playlist
    entry_result = self.__process_iterable_entry(entry, download, extra)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 1076, in __process_iterable_entry
    return self.process_ie_result(
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 885, in process_ie_result
    return self.extract_info(ie_result['url'],
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 808, in extract_info
    return self.__extract_info(url, ie, download, extra_info, process)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 824, in wrapper
    self.report_error(compat_str(e), e.format_traceback())
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 628, in report_error
    self.trouble(error_message, tb)
  File "/home/onur/PycharmProjects/youtube_video_downloader/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 598, in trouble
    raise DownloadError(message, exc_info)
youtube_dl.utils.DownloadError: ERROR: Sign in to confirm your age
This video may be inappropriate for some users.

请问如何通过程序化方式登录以验证年龄，或者彻底避免该错误？我哪里操作有误？

核心原因说明 #

你没写错代码，问题出在youtube-dl已经停止维护，对YouTube最新的年龄验证、反爬机制支持不足，导致无法获取受年龄限制的视频资源。

方案1：切换到yt-dlp（优先推荐） #

yt-dlp是youtube-dl的活跃分支，持续更新，对YouTube的新兼容更好，多数情况下能直接绕过普通年龄验证，也支持通过登录cookie解决强制验证问题：

1. 安装yt-dlp：

pip install yt-dlp

2. 修改代码，用法和youtube-dl基本一致：

from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL

videos = [...]

with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
    ydl.download(videos)

3. 若仍遇年龄验证，导入浏览器登录后的cookie：
   • 用浏览器登录YouTube并完成年龄验证，用插件导出Netscape格式的cookie文件
   • 在代码中配置cookie路径：

   ydl_opts = {
       'cookiefile': '/你的cookie文件路径/cookies.txt'
   }
   with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
       ydl.download(videos)
   

方案2：给youtube-dl传入cookie（不推荐） #

如果非要用youtube-dl，也可以通过传入登录cookie绕过验证，但因为库已停更，可能还是会遇到其他兼容问题：

1. 导出浏览器的YouTube cookie为Netscape格式
2. 修改代码配置：

ydl_opts = {
    'cookiefile': '/你的cookie文件路径/cookies.txt'
}
with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
    ydl.download(videos)

方案3：确认视频权限 #

有些视频强制要求登录验证年龄，这种情况下必须使用已通过年龄验证的YouTube账号cookie才能下载，没有其他绕过方法。

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者mchd