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Downloader Troubleshoot

Download Error

If an error occurs during the download process, we suggest you report the issue to us via email.

1. Media Player Shows a Black/Green Background​

At this point, the player doesn't prompt an error, but the playback progress is displayed. However, users are unable to see any content being played.

This issue may be due to the video being encrypted.

  • Some websites don't split video into segments (E.g. fullVideo.mp4), so their videos can only be decrypted after the download is complete.
  • Or maybe this video uses an unsupported encryption method.
Solution
  • Please update WhaleDown to the latest version first. Maybe this issue has already been fixed.
  • Please wait patiently for the download to complete. It usually only takes a few seconds to decrypt the video.
  • For trial users, please purchase a license. This will allow you to download a full video.

The latest version of WhaleDown has introduced support for Widevine DRM and SAMPLE-AES.

2. Can't Play Video/Audio​

The player usually indicates a playback error through a dialog box. This problem may be caused by the following reasons:

  • This might be a video segment, not a complete video.
  • The video's codecs aren't supported by the player.
  • The video was incorrectly decrypted.
Solution
  • Changing the Small Files Filter setting of the Detector can filter out smaller video segments. You can also provide feedback to us. We will add video segments filtering rules for specific websites.
  • We recommend VLC or IINA. They generally support more video codecs than the system's built-in player.

Furthermore, we have encountered some video websites that use the same Content-Type for the keys and subtitles as for the video itself. This causes WhaleDown to mistakenly identify them as videos, resulting in playback failure.

3. Low Resolution​

If the video resolution is low, this is usually because the wrong video was selected in the Detector.

Some web players will request both high-resolution and low-resolution videos. The URLs for these videos will all be detected by WhaleDown. This may interfere with users' choices.

WhaleDown can only tag video URLs that use the standard naming convention. You can also double-click in the Detector to access the details view. Then, you can determine the video resolution based on the video's URL.

Solution
  1. Clear the detector list.
  2. Select Higher Resolution in the web player.
  3. Download the newly detected video items.

4. Not Audio​

Users will find that after downloading some videos, there is no sound when playing them. Or sometimes the other way around, only audio but no images.

Solution

The document No Audio describes this issue in detail and how to deal with it.

5. High CPU usage​

This problem usually occurs during the video and audio merging phase. It is usually due to the need to convert the video's origin codec to H.264.

Solution

Turning off the Use H.264 codec for transcoding option fixes this issue. However, please be aware that this may cause problems such as video not playing or no sound.