Wings Mob Blogs

The Video Is Unavailable on this device error on YouTube is quite common and controversial. If you see this message in your video, most likely you have used author’s music and therefore the service imposes a restriction. Another option is problems during video processing in the YouTube studio. It is worth trying to exclude the author’s music and edit the video in some program. Users who encounter an error on someone else’s videos can try several working methods to resolve the issue.

Causes of Video Is Unavailable Error on YouTube

Among the main reasons for this failure:

• a problem with the system software;
• failure to write temporary files;
• a certain quality of the video is temporarily unavailable;
• breakdown of hardware acceleration;
• conflict between multiple extensions;
• the video is blocked in a certain region;
• a problem with the browser settings or damage to its files.

Below we have outlined ways to fix all of the listed problems, which means that something will definitely help you.

How do I fix video upload problems?

First of all, if the Video Is Unavailable error occurs on YouTube, you need to check, only this video is not available or many others also do not load, they are interrupted by this message. Another required step is to try to refresh the page, this may be the result of an accidental, temporary error. Then we try to download the video through another application: a browser, proprietary software or a player with support for streaming.

Now you should have an idea: the error appears everywhere or not, whether the given video is available, the failure is temporary or permanent. All this will help you more accurately choose the appropriate methods:

• If the point is in a specific video, but we know that it is available on other devices or platforms, then it is worth trying to change the screen resolution, start emulation of another device, change the video quality and play with a VPN.
• Only one video does not play, where does it happen? The author may have set privacy settings, deleted videos, or uploaded the wrong URL to social media.
• No videos are loaded, the error “This video is not available” constantly appears? We recommend clearing the player’s cache, turning off hardware acceleration and clearing the browser from all unnecessary things.

Method 1: switch to viewing in the desktop version or on a smartphone

The browsers of all popular platforms have a mode that emulates the settings of another device: on a computer – a smartphone or tablet, on a phone – a laptop. This tool is mainly used by developers, but it will come in handy for us as well, since the message says that the video is not available on this device. On another device, it can boot without problems.

How to start viewing mode from a smartphone in a browser on a PC:

1. While on the YouTube landing page, right-click and select “View Item Code”.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + M or click on the icon in the right-left corner of the window that appeared after the previous step. When you hover over it, the message “Toggle Device toolbar” will appear.
3. At the top, click on the “Responsive” or “Device” button and select one of the smartphone models.
4. Turn the video over with the Rotate button to the right.
5. Reload the page and see the result.

How to open desktop mode on a smartphone:

1. On the video page, click on the ellipsis in one of the corners of the browser.
2. We select the parameter “Full version”.
3. After reloading the page, check the effect.

Method 2: clear the cache of the application or browser

The cache often creates problems with the launch of certain content in the browser or in the proprietary YouTube application. It can create conflicts with real code on the page that has changed since the last time the page was visited. Fortunately, it is not difficult to clear the cache.

Instructions:

1. Open the “Settings” menu and go to the “Applications” section.
2. On the “All Applications” tab, look for YouTube or the browser through which the video was downloaded.
3. We select “Clear data” and “Clear cache”.
4. Launch the browser again and open the video.

On a computer, in almost all browsers, you can clear temporary data using a special menu. We can call it with the keys Ctrl + Shift + Del, then select the period and type of data to be cleared. Everything is intuitive, so there shouldn’t be any problems with the implementation.

Method 3: disable hardware acceleration

Usually this option is available in the browser settings, in all Chromium web browsers it is located approximately in the same place. Here’s how to turn it off:

1. Open the settings (for this, select the appropriate item in the browser menu).
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Advanced” or “Advanced settings”.
3. Scroll the page to the very end and in the “System” section look for the item “Use hardware acceleration, if available.”
4. Turn off this parameter.

Method 4: change video quality

If the video does not load in a certain quality, you should try another option. The Video Is Unavailable error may not appear in other resolutions. To change it, you need to click on the image of the gear in the player, select “Quality” from the drop-down menu and choose another suitable option. It is worth trying at least a few resolutions. Maybe the video is not available in high quality while rendering on servers (first time after loading). It often happens that a video, after some error on YouTube servers, simply stops working in quality over 480p.

Method 5: deactivate or enable VPN

Regional restrictions are becoming more common in all countries. It is likely that the video is simply not available in a certain region. At the same time, in another location, you can watch it without restrictions. If your VPN is currently inactive, you should turn it on and refresh the page with a connection to servers in the nearest country. If you already have a VPN enabled, we recommend changing the server or trying to disable it.

Method 6: remove problematic extensions

By themselves, almost all extensions work fine, without causing any special complaints. However, after adding 2, 3, 5 or 10 addons, some of them start to clash. They try to edit pages or use some kind of privilege, which causes damage to certain functions. For example, add-ons that allow you to download videos can disrupt the loading of videos.

What should be done:

1. Open the browser menu and go to the “Extensions” section.
2. Disable all modules on the “Add-ons” tab.
3. We go to YouTube and try to upload a video.
4. If it worked, turn on the add-ons one at a time until the error appears again.
5. We remove the extension, after the activation of which the problems started.

Method 7: reset or reinstall the browser

A faster way is to reset your browser settings, but more efficient is to reinstall it completely. An important nuance, in case of reinstallation, it is advisable to delete all user data, as they can also harm the browser.

How to reset your web browser:

1. Go to the “Settings” page and expand the “Advanced” list.
2. At the very end of the list of parameters, click on the “Restore default settings” option.
3. We confirm the intention with the “Reset” button.

After going through all the possible fixes and solving all the known causes of the failure, you should have an improvement. One exception is that it was not your system, but the YouTube servers, then the only correct solution would be to wait.