[Youtube] English auto-sub feature seems to be broken

[malaterre]

Checklist

• I'm reporting a broken site support issue
• I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
• I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser
• I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
• I've searched the bugtracker for similar bug reports including closed ones
• I've read bugs section in FAQ

Verbose log

% youtube-dl -v -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/mp4' --convert-subs srt --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWWCHAQg9E'
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-v', '-f', 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/mp4', '--convert-subs', 'srt', '--write-auto-sub', '--sub-lang', 'en', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWWCHAQg9E']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.9.2 (CPython) - Linux-5.15.0-0.bpo.3-amd64-x86_64-with-glibc2.31
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.3.3-0, ffprobe 4.3.3-0, phantomjs 2.1.1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[youtube] wHWWCHAQg9E: Downloading webpage
[info] Writing video subtitles to: Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.en.vtt
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://rr1---sn-25ge7nsd.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1646583371&ei=64kkYsb0I-bBxgLDgITgBA&ip=2a01%3Ae0a%3A343%3A1a00%3A4239%3A8c08%3A9c52%3A2803&id=o-ANSuqxc1vJRKBzoXfXYvMAdCfJD6RQc70UDacfRyM81i&itag=134&aitags=133%2C134%2C160%2C242%2C243%2C278&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=ow&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-25ge7nsd%2Csn-25glene6&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=52&initcwndbps=1097500&vprv=1&mime=video%2Fmp4&ns=QMcp_TKJ0R5Ol_yWPw9qegkG&gir=yes&clen=1554583&dur=81.281&lmt=1552962991497935&mt=1646561569&fvip=1&keepalive=yes&fexp=24001373%2C24007246&c=WEB&txp=1311222&n=QfYR29pf_LsQ4WzY0&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Caitags%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cns%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRQIhAN0Z-2dfod-S_qOpUKyjuMqyObwGkvYo7OCZctMnYrtsAiB_RjlZ6j35E5abgaR90Q5S_4rmWN9zJYleta4Z8Ge2Fg%3D%3D&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AG3C_xAwRAIgbuKcXph7rRssii9a_Ax03iQMzS57YzvNDJl343MU4SICIA4xWYYbx-nQYfTYR7_T7J9Wnjf_Fb4y8uN587EHNdyQ'
[download] Destination: Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.f134.mp4
[download] 100% of 1.48MiB in 00:35
[debug] Invoking downloader on 'https://rr1---sn-25ge7nsd.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1646583371&ei=64kkYsb0I-bBxgLDgITgBA&ip=2a01%3Ae0a%3A343%3A1a00%3A4239%3A8c08%3A9c52%3A2803&id=o-ANSuqxc1vJRKBzoXfXYvMAdCfJD6RQc70UDacfRyM81i&itag=140&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mh=ow&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-25ge7nsd%2Csn-25glene6&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=1&pl=52&initcwndbps=1097500&vprv=1&mime=audio%2Fmp4&ns=QMcp_TKJ0R5Ol_yWPw9qegkG&gir=yes&clen=1317369&dur=81.339&lmt=1552962901961935&mt=1646561569&fvip=1&keepalive=yes&fexp=24001373%2C24007246&c=WEB&txp=1311222&n=QfYR29pf_LsQ4WzY0&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cvprv%2Cmime%2Cns%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRAIgCCCo9AABEceOXp8-JtaMEoNU6hzcTfpsTuWnVX9B2_cCIExEB_xElqAcWbxtamwczrR9OnpicDtkwQPYhzck4RPZ&lsparams=mh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AG3C_xAwRAIgbuKcXph7rRssii9a_Ax03iQMzS57YzvNDJl343MU4SICIA4xWYYbx-nQYfTYR7_T7J9Wnjf_Fb4y8uN587EHNdyQ'
[download] Destination: Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 1.26MiB in 00:29
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.mp4"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -loglevel repeat+info -i 'file:Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.f134.mp4' -i 'file:Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.f140.m4a' -c copy -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 'file:Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.temp.mp4'
Deleting original file Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.f134.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.f140.m4a (pass -k to keep)
[ffmpeg] Converting subtitles
[debug] ffmpeg command line: ffmpeg -y -loglevel repeat+info -i 'file:Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.en.vtt' -f srt 'file:Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.en.srt'
Deleting original file Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.en.vtt (pass -k to keep)

Description

If you displayed the movie generated

% mpv "Mariner 9 Orbits Mars-wHWWCHAQg9E.mp4"  

you'll notice that the complete subs are displayed on the first frame.

Now try the above command again using fr (for example) and display it. You'll notice the subs are displayed in sync with the video:

% youtube-dl -v -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/mp4' --convert-subs srt --write-auto-sub --sub-lang fr 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWWCHAQg9E'

[dirkf]

Duplicate of #30710.
YT started sending broken auto-subs

This will be fixed soon.

[metacynicv2]

Just confirming that I am having the same issue and it is a block for us. Are there any workarounds?

[dirkf]

Refer to the original issue #30710.