How can I run a yt-dlp Telegram downloader reliably from AWS?
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MellowCedar42
I built a personal Telegram media downloader with Python, yt-dlp, and ffmpeg. It worked reliably on my phone through Termux and a residential internet connection, but moving it to an AWS EC2 Ubuntu server caused repeated problems. YouTube began returning bot-verification messages and HTTP 403 errors, while some other platforms started reporting that requested formats were unavailable. I tried cookies, forcing IPv4, mobile-style client settings, and iOS Safari user agents. Cookies helped temporarily, and using a flexible format such as bv*+ba/b with ffmpeg works more often, but the service still gets flagged. Since this is a free personal project, I would prefer not to pay for expensive infrastructure or unreliable proxy services. Is a residential proxy really the practical solution, or are there configuration changes that can make yt-dlp more reliable from a cloud server?
Answers
There probably is not a magic configuration that makes a cloud IP look like a normal home connection indefinitely. Keep the format selection flexible and let ffmpeg merge the best available video and audio streams, but that only addresses format errors—not the bot checks. If the service is being blocked because of the AWS address, changing extractors or user agents will not reliably solve the underlying problem.
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This is mostly an IP-reputation and hosting-network issue rather than a missing yt-dlp option. Datacenter addresses are frequently challenged, and changing client fingerprints or cookies may only work temporarily. The simplest low-cost option is to run it from a home connection or an inexpensive used computer, assuming your upload and download speeds are sufficient. Residential proxies can also be unreliable and may get blocked, so they are not a guaranteed fix.
MellowCedar42: The main drawback is that my local connection only reaches about 50 Mbps, so I was hoping the cloud server would handle transfers more comfortably.
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MellowCedar42: So the main issue is the cloud provider’s IP reputation, and not necessarily a mistake in my format settings?