Post by gordon on Sept 28, 2024 20:46:05 GMT
YouTube recently got rid of format code 22 ("itag=22" in the googlevideo.com URL). This was the format code for 720p+audio in one file. While videos can still be watched in 720p, those are made from separate video and audio streams and merged locally rather than being served as a finished file.
Now, only the format code 18 (360p+audio) contains both video and audio in one format. All the other formats have separated video and audio streams that are merged by the watcher's computer.
Here is a sample output of the format list from Baby Shark, using ytdlp -F www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZsoesa55w :
ID EXT RESOLUTION FPS CH │ FILESIZE TBR PROTO │ VCODEC VBR ACODEC ABR ASR MORE INFO
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
sb3 mhtml 48x27 1 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
sb2 mhtml 80x45 1 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
sb1 mhtml 160x90 1 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
sb0 mhtml 320x180 1 │ mhtml │ images storyboard
233 mp4 audio only │ m3u8 │ audio only unknown Default
234 mp4 audio only │ m3u8 │ audio only unknown Default
249 webm audio only 2 │ 739.04KiB 44k https │ audio only opus 44k 48k low, THROTTLED, webm_dash
250 webm audio only 2 │ 967.11KiB 58k https │ audio only opus 58k 48k low, THROTTLED, webm_dash
139 m4a audio only 2 │ 811.52KiB 49k https │ audio only mp4a.40.5 49k 22k low, m4a_dash
251 webm audio only 2 │ 1.83MiB 113k https │ audio only opus 113k 48k medium, THROTTLED, webm_dash
140 m4a audio only 2 │ 2.10MiB 130k https │ audio only mp4a.40.2 130k 44k medium, m4a_dash
602 mp4 256x144 15 │ ~ 1.61MiB 100k m3u8 │ vp09.00.10.08 100k video only
394 mp4 256x144 30 │ 1.11MiB 68k https │ av01.0.00M.08 68k video only 144p, THROTTLED, mp4_dash
278 webm 256x144 30 │ 1.49MiB 92k https │ vp9 92k video only 144p, THROTTLED, webm_dash
269 mp4 256x144 30 │ ~ 2.95MiB 182k m3u8 │ avc1.4D400C 182k video only
160 mp4 256x144 30 │ 1.55MiB 96k https │ avc1.4D400C 96k video only 144p, mp4_dash
603 mp4 256x144 30 │ ~ 2.53MiB 156k m3u8 │ vp09.00.11.08 156k video only
395 mp4 426x240 30 │ 2.06MiB 127k https │ av01.0.00M.08 127k video only 240p, THROTTLED, mp4_dash
242 webm 426x240 30 │ 3.16MiB 195k https │ vp9 195k video only 240p, THROTTLED, webm_dash
229 mp4 426x240 30 │ ~ 4.88MiB 301k m3u8 │ avc1.4D4015 301k video only
133 mp4 426x240 30 │ 2.75MiB 169k https │ avc1.4D4015 169k video only 240p, mp4_dash
604 mp4 426x240 30 │ ~ 4.68MiB 289k m3u8 │ vp09.00.20.08 289k video only
396 mp4 640x360 30 │ 4.06MiB 250k https │ av01.0.01M.08 250k video only 360p, THROTTLED, mp4_dash
18 mp4 640x360 30 2 │ ≈ 7.25MiB 447k https │ avc1.42001E mp4a.40.2 44k 360p, THROTTLED
243 webm 640x360 30 │ 5.44MiB 335k https │ vp9 335k video only 360p, THROTTLED, webm_dash
230 mp4 640x360 30 │ ~ 12.24MiB 755k m3u8 │ avc1.4D401E 755k video only
134 mp4 640x360 30 │ 5.16MiB 318k https │ avc1.4D401E 318k video only 360p, mp4_dash
605 mp4 640x360 30 │ ~ 9.19MiB 567k m3u8 │ vp09.00.21.08 567k video only
397 mp4 854x480 30 │ 6.79MiB 419k https │ av01.0.04M.08 419k video only 480p, THROTTLED, mp4_dash
244 webm 854x480 30 │ 8.45MiB 521k https │ vp9 521k video only 480p, THROTTLED, webm_dash
231 mp4 854x480 30 │ ~ 16.71MiB 1031k m3u8 │ avc1.4D401F 1031k video only
135 mp4 854x480 30 │ 7.37MiB 455k https │ avc1.4D401F 455k video only 480p, mp4_dash
606 mp4 854x480 30 │ ~ 15.11MiB 932k m3u8 │ vp09.00.30.08 932k video only
398 mp4 1280x720 30 │ 12.29MiB 758k https │ av01.0.05M.08 758k video only 720p, THROTTLED, mp4_dash
247 webm 1280x720 30 │ 14.23MiB 877k https │ vp9 877k video only 720p, THROTTLED, webm_dash
232 mp4 1280x720 30 │ ~ 26.20MiB 1616k m3u8 │ avc1.4D401F 1616k video only
136 mp4 1280x720 30 │ 12.39MiB 764k https │ avc1.4D401F 764k video only 720p, mp4_dash
609 mp4 1280x720 30 │ ~ 27.56MiB 1700k m3u8 │ vp09.00.31.08 1700k video only
399 mp4 1920x1080 30 │ 20.50MiB 1264k https │ av01.0.08M.08 1264k video only 1080p, THROTTLED, mp4_dash
248 webm 1920x1080 30 │ 27.09MiB 1670k https │ vp9 1670k video only 1080p, THROTTLED, webm_dash
270 mp4 1920x1080 30 │ ~ 73.26MiB 4518k m3u8 │ avc1.640028 4518k video only
137 mp4 1920x1080 30 │ 36.22MiB 2234k https │ avc1.640028 2234k video only 1080p, mp4_dash
614 mp4 1920x1080 30 │ ~ 44.98MiB 2775k m3u8 │ vp09.00.40.08 2775k video only
616 mp4 1920x1080 30 │ ~ 92.56MiB 5709k m3u8 │ vp09.00.40.08 5709k video only Premium
As you may notice, format code 18 is the only format that has both a video and an audio track in one file. There used to be a format code 22 which has an audio track but is in 720p. YouTube got rid of that a few months ago. YouTube also used to have a format code 37 which was 1080p+audio, but they got rid of that many years ago, around 2015.
youtube-dl and ytdlp work by downloading the video and audio tracks separately and merging them into one MP4 or WEBM file locally. You can also manually specify formats like this (in both youtube-dl and ytdlp):
ytdlp -f 232+140This downloads the muted 720p version (format code 232) with the audio-only track from format code 140 and merges them into one file locally. Formats that are marked as "throttled" can not be downloaded.
Since the Wayback Machine used format code 22 to archive YouTube videos that were available in at least 720p, it now falls back on format code 18, so the Wayback Machine will only be archiving YouTube videos in garbage 360p for the foreseeable future.
I am writing this to encourage you to save any YouTube videos that you think are worth preserving in 720p or higher, even if the Wayback Machine has already saved it. Remember, more than half of what was on YouTube in 2010 is gone. This means there probably is a majority chance that any given video you watch today will no longer be on YouTube by 2034.
Uploaders take down videos, channels get terminated, taking all videos with them, and Google might decide to do another purge like they did to older unlisted videos in 2021.
