youtube-dl python script postprocessing error: FFMPEG codecs aren't being recognized

Question

My python script is trying to download youtube videos with youtube-dl.py. Works fine unless postprocessing is required. The code:

import youtube_dl

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Answer 1

This is a bug in the interplay between youtube-dl and ffmpeg, caused by the lack of extension in the filename. youtube-dl calls ffmpeg. Since the filename does not contain any extension, youtube-dl asks ffmpeg to generate a temporary file mp3. However, ffmpeg detects the output container type automatically by the extension and fails because mp3 has no extension.

As a workaround, simply add %(ext)s in your filename template:

'outtmpl': u'%(id)s.%(ext)s',