Solution

YouTube keeps saying ‘there was an error licensing this video’ – what’s causing this and how do I fix it?

That message pops up when YouTube’s DRM system (Widevine, in almost every case) can’t confirm you’re allowed to play whatever you clicked on. It’s not a general YouTube outage message — it’s specific to a rights check that failed somewhere between your device, your account, and YouTube’s license server. That’s why restarting the app fixes it for some people and does absolutely nothing for others. The cause changes depending on where the check is failing.

Worth knowing before you start troubleshooting: this shows up most on protected content — Premium movies, TV show rentals, some music videos, and YouTube TV live channels. Regular free uploads rarely trigger it unless there’s a browser or device-level DRM problem. If it’s happening on a normal, non-purchased video too, that’s a sign the issue is on your device rather than the content itself.

On a Computer (Chrome, Edge, Firefox)

Start here, in order — most people get fixed within the first two or three steps.

  1. Reload in Incognito/Private mode. This rules out extensions and cached login tokens in one shot. If the video plays fine here, your problem is a corrupted cache or a bad extension in your normal window.
  2. Clear cache and cookies for YouTube specifically (not your whole browser history, just cookies/cached files) — Settings → Privacy and Security → Delete browsing data.
  3. Disable ad blockers temporarily. uBlock Origin, AdBlock, and Ghostery all sometimes intercept the network calls YouTube makes for license verification, not just ads. Turn them off, reload, test.
  4. Update the Widevine Content Decryption Module. This is the actual component doing the license check, and it’s separate from your browser version. Go to chrome://components (or edge://components, opera://components), scroll to Widevine Content Decryption Module, and hit Check for update.
  5. Make sure Chrome/Edge/Firefox itself is on the latest version — Help → About in any of them triggers an auto-update check.

If the update in step 4 keeps failing or shows “Component not updated” no matter how many times you click it, the CDM files themselves are probably corrupted. Here’s the manual fix on Windows:

  1. Fully close Chrome — check Task Manager to confirm no chrome.exe processes are still running.
  2. Open Run (Win + R) and paste:
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data
  1. Find the folder named WidevineCdm and delete it.
  2. Relaunch Chrome, go back to chrome://components, and click Check for update on Widevine again — it’ll redownload fresh.

If deleting the folder doesn’t fix it and you also see “Update Failed,” check that your antivirus isn’t blocking Chrome from writing the new files — some security software flags CDM downloads as suspicious.

On the YouTube or YouTube TV App (Android/iOS)

  • Android: Settings → Apps → YouTube → Storage → Clear Cache (try this before Clear Data, since Clear Data logs you out). If cache clearing alone doesn’t work, Clear Data and sign back in.
  • iOS: Apple doesn’t let you clear cache for individual apps, so the equivalent move is deleting and reinstalling the YouTube app from the App Store.
  • Update the app itself — an outdated version genuinely can’t pass current DRM checks, especially on older Android builds.
  • Confirm you’re logged into the account that actually owns the license (the one you rented/subscribed with) — this trips people up constantly on shared family devices.

On Smart TVs, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku

Streaming devices are the most common place this error shows up, mainly because their YouTube apps update less often than phone or browser versions.

  1. Restart the device fully — not just the app, the whole box/TV. Unplug for 30 seconds if it’s a streaming stick.
  2. Clear the app’s cache/data from the device settings menu (Settings → Apps → YouTube on most smart TVs and Fire TV; Settings → System restart on Roku).
  3. Check for a firmware/software update on the device itself — this is separate from updating the YouTube app.
  4. If none of that works, uninstall and reinstall the YouTube app completely rather than just clearing its data.

First-generation Chromecast devices are known for this specifically — Google’s DRM requirements moved past what that hardware supports, so if you’re still running an original Chromecast, this error may not have a permanent fix short of upgrading the device.

If Only One Specific Video Triggers It

This usually isn’t a device problem at all — it’s the content. Check for these before troubleshooting further:

  • You’re using a VPN or proxy. Licensing is tied to region. If YouTube detects your IP as being somewhere the video isn’t licensed (or somewhere that conflicts with your account’s billing region), it blocks playback rather than guessing. Turn the VPN off and reload.
  • Wrong Google account. If you bought or rented the video on one account, it won’t play while you’re signed into another — even on the same device.
  • Subscription lapsed. Check Google Account → Payments & Subscriptions to confirm YouTube Premium (or the specific rental) is still active and the payment went through.
  • Offline/downloaded video. Downloaded videos carry their own time-limited license separate from your account. If it’s expired, you’ll need to be online and reconnect so YouTube can refresh it — redownload if it still won’t play.

Nothing Worked?

Try the same video on a completely different device — phone vs. laptop vs. TV. If it plays somewhere else, you’ve confirmed it’s local to the device that’s failing, and a full app/browser reinstall is the next real step rather than repeating cache clears. If it fails everywhere and on every video, that points to an account-level licensing issue worth flagging through YouTube’s help center directly, since that’s outside what local troubleshooting can fix.

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