[vk] Failed to parse JSON (caused by JSONDecodeError("Expecting value in '': line 1 column 1 (char 0)")) #12970
Description
Checklist
- I'm reporting that yt-dlp is broken on a supported site
- I've verified that I have updated yt-dlp to nightly or master (update instructions)
- I've checked that all provided URLs are playable in a browser with the same IP and same login details
- I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
- I've searched known issues, the FAQ, and the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones. DO NOT post duplicates
- I've read about sharing account credentials and I'm willing to share it if required
Region
europe
Provide a description that is worded well enough to be understood
vk.com seems to have a new dialog box that asks the user to confirm that he is not a bot…
EDIT BY MAINTAINER: There seems to be a rate-limit that when exceeded triggers the antibot measures
Provide verbose output that clearly demonstrates the problem
- Run your yt-dlp command with -vU flag added (
yt-dlp -vU <your command line>) - If using API, add
'verbose': TruetoYoutubeDLparams instead - Copy the WHOLE output (starting with
[debug] Command-line config) and insert it below
Complete Verbose Output
[debug] Command-line config: ['-vU', 'https://vkvideo.ru/video2019924_456239473']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, pref UTF-8, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version stable@2025.03.31 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [5e457af57]
[debug] Python 3.13.3 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - macOS-10.14.6-x86_64-i386-64bit-Mach-O (OpenSSL 3.5.0 8 Apr 2025)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.4.5 (setts), ffprobe 4.4.5
[debug] Optional libraries: pycrypto-3.21.0, sqlite3-3.49.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1850 extractors
[debug] Fetching release info: https://api.github.com/repos/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest
Latest version: stable@2025.03.31 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp
yt-dlp is up to date (stable@2025.03.31 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp)
[vk] Extracting URL: https://vkvideo.ru/video2019924_456239473
[vk] 2019924_456239473: Downloading JSON metadata
ERROR: [vk] 2019924_456239473: Failed to parse JSON (caused by JSONDecodeError("Expecting value in '': line 1 column 1 (char 0)")); please report this issue on https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 748, in extract
ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/vk.py", line 367, in _real_extract
payload = self._download_payload('al_video', video_id, data)
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/vk.py", line 79, in _download_payload
code, payload = self._download_json(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
endpoint, video_id, data=urlencode_postdata(data), fatal=fatal,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
...<2 lines>...
'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest',
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
})['payload']
^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 1145, in download_content
res = getattr(self, download_handle.__name__)(url_or_request, video_id, **kwargs)
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 1110, in download_handle
return parse(self, content, video_id, transform_source=transform_source, fatal=fatal, errnote=errnote), urlh
~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 1098, in parse
return getattr(ie, parser)(content, *args, **kwargs)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 1085, in _parse_json
self.__print_error('Failed to parse JSON' if errnote is None else errnote, fatal, video_id, ve)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 1068, in __print_error
raise ExtractorError(f'{video_id}: {errnote}', cause=err)
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/utils/_utils.py", line 567, in decode
return super().decode(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/json/decoder.py", line 345, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/json/decoder.py", line 363, in raw_decode
raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py", line 1082, in _parse_json
return json.loads(
~~~~~~~~~~^
json_string, cls=LenientJSONDecoder, strict=False, transform_source=transform_source, **parser_kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/json/__init__.py", line 359, in loads
return cls(**kw).decode(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^
File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/lib/python3.13/site-packages/yt_dlp/utils/_utils.py", line 575, in decode
raise type(e)(f'{e.msg} in {s[e.pos - 10:e.pos + 10]!r}', s, e.pos)
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value in '': line 1 column 1 (char 0)