How to fix the YouTube (common) error message

If you are familiar with YouTube you will probably try to guess by now, what I am going to talk about. On the other hand, if you only browse YouTube once in a blue moon…never mind!

You will still find this (short) tutorial important. And moreover even a basic/amateur YouTuber should know this.
Okay, most of us try refreshing the page a 100 times when the video has encountered an error such as: “An error occurred, please try again later.” Or we would try in a short while. And get to the point where it becomes ridiculous; whatever you do wont make the video play. NOT even from your friends computer. Duh!!! I am sick of trying.

Some of you, including me – at first sight think that this error has appeared to show maybe ’cause the video is not available. But then why would it not say: “This video is unavailable” due to blah blah blah. However, lets get to the main point.

Here is an example:

Solving the problem is pretty much simple. What you have to do is just add &fmt=5 to the end of the original URL. will look like Whooot! You are good to go.
What is the theory behind this error? Who cares? The engineers should

- thanks for your comments

Tagged engineering, Internet