With an increase in the number of persons visiting the site and trying to hack into the server, YouTube errors are very easy to encounter. One of these errors sure to interrupt your time enjoying streaming videos is the error 400. This nagging glitch is not a friendly sight in any way and has attracted several complaints from various users of the video app. This article will provide ways in which you can fix this YouTube error 400 whenever you come across it while using it on your mobile device (Android or iOS) or your computer system.
What Is the YouTube Error 400?
With "400", the most information you are provided with is embedded in the error message “Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request”. However, it can be fixed with some basic steps just like other YouTube errors including errors 429 and 503.
Handling the “400” Error Code on YouTube
Using YouTube on an Android/iOS device as an application, these are the basic steps you should take:
Reboot Your Device; In most cases, simply restarting your device resolves temporary malfunctions and network glitches.
Clear YouTube Cache & Data; By doing these, your app returns to its default mode of function and most likely eradicates the pesky error code. To do this, you have to access your YouTube storage under “All Applications” in your phone settings under the tab “Apps”. You can read more here --> How to clear cache & cookies
Uninstall App updates; If the app does not return to its default settings after carrying out the previous step, you should uninstall its updates. You would find this option by following the steps mentioned previously. By doing this, all videos on the video-streaming app will play by default settings. If you feel like it, you could reinstall app updates. When the disruption code still does not go away, you should try any older version of the app instead.
Check your internet connection; After trying all these steps to no avail, there is a high possibility that the problem stems from your internet connection. In this case, you should try resetting your APN settings on the tab “Mobile networks” in your phone settings. You could also reboot the Wi-Fi router your device is connected to. Relying on another DNS at times could also resolve this.
However, what should I do if I encounter this error while using YouTube on my browser? You do not need to panic, instead, you should do the following;
Clear the app's Cookies, together with its Cache from your browser; In some scenarios, the error sometimes occurs due to your browser attempting to make use of an item that has already been cached. Therefore, clearing every cache on your browser might help remove this function failure code. You not only need to clear caches, but you also need to clear all browser cookies. By all, we mean, you must leave no cache or cookies on your browser. To delete all cookies and Cache, select the tab “The beginning of time”.
Clear YouTube Cookies on your Browser: Rather than taking the previous step initially, you should try clearing all YouTube-related cookies first. Clearing all cookies on your browser means you get to lose everything saved on your browser, including your passwords and login details. For this reason, you should try this before carrying out the step above. The only sure disadvantage of this is that it logs you out of YouTube, aside from that, this step works for most devices.
Switch your browser to the Incognito mode: When the disruption occurs, you should try going incognito or resetting your browser settings. The incognito mode option can be found in the menu bar. However, to reset your browser settings,
Click on Settings in the Menu tab
Scroll to the bottom of the settings tab where you will find the button “Advanced options” and click on it.
Under this tab, you will find the Privacy and Security option. Click on it as it will lead to the Content Settings tab.
Scroll to “Cookies” and click on it. This shows your general cookies so you have to search for YouTube cookies.
When the search result appears, click on “Remove all” and confirm the action.
Exit the browser and restart your system.
4. Use the video ID in place of its link: If you come across the "400" error code while searching for a video with its link, you should try the search using the video ID instead. Getting the video ID of the video you would like to watch is not difficult. All you have to do is,
Visit the YouTube webpage where you will find the URL of the page.
At the end of the URL, there is an equal sign (=). The combination of letters and numbers placed after the equal sign is the video ID. You can copy that to make your search instead.
5. Uninstall and Reinstall Chrome: Although highly rare, if the code 400 remains after you have taken the four steps already mentioned, you should try reinstalling your chrome browser.
You could also try troubleshooting the error as a 504 Gateway Timeout problem.
Conclusion
Like some other YouTube errors, 400 can prove to be quite the bother. At times you might feel discouraged and decide to do something else on other apps. Well, using this article as your guide, you can now eradicate this error whenever it comes between you and your favorite leisure time videos.
If, however, the "400" error is not the only YouTube failure code you have been encountering lately, you could try the basic update, restart, and clearing of caches, cookies, and history. These steps are just enough to handle simpler errors like the 500 internal server error.
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