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Weird behavior of offline videos. I had downloaded a lot videos from office for offline viewing at home. But when i went home they were showing expired and when i clicked on them it showed connect to internet to update. So i went online but even then it was showing connect to update, but after long hours of searching over the internet i couldn't find any solutions. So i first removed them from offline and re-downloaded them.

That was okay, but the same thing happened today hence i am frustrated. My questions are like this: 1)Why are they getting expired 2)Solution for the above question.

Screenshot:

Screen showing expired videos

Screenshot - (click to enlarge)

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    This is related to YouTube Offline Videos deleted/removed
    – Lucky
    Aug 10, 2015 at 7:00
  • no i tried the above link, but its a different issue. I will add a screenshot..
    – DJphy
    Aug 10, 2015 at 14:35
  • I guess you can re-download the videos by clicking the 3dots near the expired video.
    – Lucky
    Aug 26, 2015 at 7:20
  • Ya i have mentioned that also, that if i click on that it will show connect to internet and even if i connect it will repeatedly show the same. So i finally had to remove it from my offline and re-download it again.
    – DJphy
    Aug 26, 2015 at 10:35

5 Answers 5

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Apparently YouTube videos downloaded for offline viewing get expired after a certain amount of time. I haven't heard anything official about though.

The downloaded videos are stored in the internal storage but they are saved as .exo file format which only the YouTube app can open (you can't play them with any other media player app)

The best advice I can give you is to use a YouTube downloader like Tube mate to download the videos.

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  • Ya but why arent they trying to fix this and i have not uninstalled youtube.. And reinstalled, its like it remains there and ur right apparently they get expired
    – DJphy
    Aug 10, 2015 at 14:38
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    I don't think it's a bug, the devs probably intended to make it like this. Try using TubeMate app instead
    – Anonta
    Aug 10, 2015 at 15:00
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It seems that YouTube Offline feature is expected to work that way, in specific regions/countries.

In India, those offline videos are not removed at all(unless YOU remove them or uninstall updates of YouTube app or if you connect the device to internet even once during the 48-hour window, the YouTube app will be able to verify the status and will refresh the 48-hour deadline.)

Read more at: Here is the link which confirm this.

But in some specific regions/countries videos are removed after 48-hr expiry time.

Below is the relevant quote from article in http://www.engadget.com/

Anything you save will be accessible for 48 hours in the offline section on the left-hand sliding menu.

Check this link for more details:

Hence, it is not a bug or issue but the Business model of YouTube.

You may or may not agree with it but that is the present situation.

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    Yes it is based on location/country too. But I don't agree that it will never expire. In India I still notice some videos expire after a specific time period. Reason: The video uploader can set the expiry days so once the time period exceeds you need to redownload the video by connecting to internet. In fact it was available to me for more than 48 hours. :)
    – Lucky
    Aug 18, 2015 at 16:53
  • @Lucky yes you are right. I am in India. Many videos are suddenly shown in my Asus Zenfone 2 as expired. They expire in India also.
    – Ravi
    Dec 6, 2015 at 12:26
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Just change the date of your device and disconnec it frm internet . Change date to the one when downloaded

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  • would like to try it once
    – DJphy
    Oct 3, 2015 at 10:17
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    But what about the sync on my phone would behave.. Can i correct it back and will that effect the youtube vids again
    – DJphy
    Oct 3, 2015 at 10:18
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    @DJphy yes you have put a very valid point. It's too risky to change date. So, it's better not to tamper with it unless you are sure what all that can result.
    – Ravi
    Dec 6, 2015 at 12:32
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Here I Cameroon it is 29 days. But I've got to connect only to a wifi network to get it refreshed. Clearing cache never cause the videos to expired. Rather what I realize is that during download if you forcestop YouTube app or you have a shut down, you tube won't care whether you were downloading a 4GB video and you were at 99%..... Trust me.. You may have to start all over again.... That's how it works with me

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Offline videos expires when you clear the cache of YouTube app.
If you dont clear, then all videos will not expire

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    Downloaded videos from YouTube expire after a 48-hour period. Clearing the cache might invalidate the period and cause the videos t expire immediately. More probably, since the videos themselves are considered cached, clearing the cache will delete them. Your answer is blatantly incorrect.
    – Tamoghna Chowdhury
    Dec 19, 2015 at 12:22

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