ERROR: Postprocessing: ffprobe and ffmpeg not found

sofasurfer · 05-11-2022, 11:21 PM

I download videos using yt-dlp. Here is my most recent attempt...

Code:

 $ cd Downloads; yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://youtu.be/MujE5tObk50
[youtube] MujE5tObk50: Downloading webpage
[youtube] MujE5tObk50: Downloading android player API JSON
[info] MujE5tObk50: Downloading 1 format(s): 251
[download] How the Pro's sharpen a chainsaw [MujE5tObk50].webm has already been downloaded
[download] 100% of 12.82MiB
ERROR: Postprocessing: ffprobe and ffmpeg not found. Please install or provide the path using --ffmpeg-location

I started getting the error at the end of the process after I did a system reinstall...

Code:

ERROR: Postprocessing: ffprobe and ffmpeg not found. Please install or provide the path using --ffmpeg-location

I installed and upgraded ffmpeg and this made no difference. What is happening?

ondoho · 05-12-2022, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofasurfer

What is happening?

Doesn't it say so in the message?

Quote:

provide the path using --ffmpeg-location

sofasurfer · 05-12-2022, 02:28 AM

Yes, that is what it says but I don't know what I am supposed to do with that info. I am using the GUI not the command line. I never had to do this before so where is this path to be input and why was it never needed before? I don't know what the path is or how to enter it.

ondoho · 05-12-2022, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofasurfer

Yes, that is what it says but I don't know what I am supposed to do with that info. I am using the GUI not the command line. I never had to do this before so where is this path to be input and why was it never needed before? I don't know what the path is or how to enter it.

yt-dlp is a command line tool...

sofasurfer · 05-12-2022, 08:08 PM

O cwap! I don't know what I was thinking. Well, it was 2:00 in the morning. I still maintain that I never had this problem before the reinstall.
Ok, I'm off to explore my problem.

sofasurfer · 05-12-2022, 09:28 PM

Ok. I had to add

Code:

 --ffmpeg-location /usr/bin

to the command line.
If yt-dlp is required to know the path to its own binary file it seems like it should be built in. Is this something I can edit in a config file (where?) or is a yt-dpl reinstall in order?

ondoho · 05-13-2022, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofasurfer

Is this something I can edit in a config file (where?) or is a yt-dpl reinstall in order?

Depends on how you installed it.
Try 'man yt-dlp' or 'yt-dlp --help'.

yt-dlp should be updated constantly.

teckk · 05-13-2022, 01:48 PM

Quote:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://youtu.be/MujE5tObk50

What do you get from

Code:

which ffmpeg
which ffplay

Can you start ffmpeg at all?

Code:

ffmpeg --help

Let me choose a smaller video at random for a test. 2 min.

Code:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J2iBX_wGbkU -o myfile.mp3

file myfile.mp3
file.mp3: Audio file with ID3 version 2.4.0, contains: MPEG ADTS, layer III, v1, 64 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo

Yup, that works. Looks like ffmpeg is not in your $PATH for executables.

You could also use ffmpeg by itself. That is what it is for

Code:

yt-dlp -f 140 https://youtu.be/MujE5tObk50 -o file1.m4a

ffmpeg -vn -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 128k file1.mp3

Or look at:

Code:

yt-dlp -F https://youtu.be/MujE5tObk50

See:
man yt-dlp
man ffmpeg
man ffplay
echo $PATH