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How to Export YouTube Cookies for Bot-Protected Videos

Some YouTube videos require authentication cookies to bypass bot detection. If you encounter "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" errors, follow these steps to export your YouTube cookies.

Method 1: Using Browser Extension (Easiest)

For Chrome/Edge/Brave

  1. Install the extension "Get cookies.txt LOCALLY"

  2. Visit YouTube.com and sign in to your account

  3. Click the extension icon in your browser toolbar

  4. Click "Export" button

  5. Save the file as cookies.txt in the Voice2Note project root directory:

    /home/opc/Desktop/Voice2Note/cookies.txt

For Firefox

  1. Install the extension "cookies.txt"

  2. Visit YouTube.com and sign in to your account

  3. Click the extension icon in your toolbar

  4. Click "Export cookies.txt"

  5. Save the file as cookies.txt in the Voice2Note project root directory

Method 2: Using yt-dlp Command (Advanced)

If you have Chrome/Firefox installed and logged into YouTube:

# For Chrome
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome --cookies cookies.txt "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

# For Firefox
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox --cookies cookies.txt "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

This will create a cookies.txt file that you can reuse.

Important Notes

  1. Privacy: The cookies.txt file contains your authentication tokens. Keep it secure and don't share it.

  2. Expiration: Cookies expire over time (usually days to weeks). If downloads stop working, export fresh cookies.

  3. File Location: The app automatically looks for cookies.txt in:

    /home/opc/Desktop/Voice2Note/cookies.txt

  4. Gitignore: cookies.txt is already in .gitignore, so it won't be committed to git.

Testing

After adding cookies.txt, test with a video:

source venv/bin/activate
python -c "
from processors.video_handler import VideoHandler
vh = VideoHandler()
result = vh.download_youtube_audio('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUR_VIDEO_ID')
print(f'Success! Downloaded: {result[\"title\"]}')
"

Troubleshooting

"ERROR: Sign in to confirm you're not a bot"

  • Solution: Export fresh cookies using Method 1 above

"Cookies file not found"

  • Make sure the file is named exactly cookies.txt (all lowercase)
  • Check the file is in the correct directory: /home/opc/Desktop/Voice2Note/

Downloads work without cookies.txt

  • Great! Most videos don't need cookies. Only bot-protected videos require them.

On Phone (Android)

If you're accessing from your phone:

  1. Use a browser on your phone to access YouTube
  2. Install the extension (if supported) or use method 2
  3. Transfer the cookies.txt file to your server using: 
    # On phone (Termux)
scp cookies.txt opc@your-server:/home/opc/Desktop/Voice2Note/cookies.txt