Uncaught ReferenceError: ytcfg is not defined (also __ytRIL is not defined)

Question

I have been using the YouTube IFrame Player API without problem for months and started to see this exception recently when the player loads: Uncaught ReferenceError: ytcfg is not defined Inspecting the iframe, I see a successful call to yt.setConfig, but ytcfg.set fails later. Was the API changed recently? Any player parameter could cause this problem?

<script src="//s.ytimg.com/yts/jsbin/www-embed-player-vflnzmqns/www-embed-player.js" type="text/javascript" name="www-embed-player/www-embed-player"></script>
<script src="//s.ytimg.com/yts/jsbin/player-en_US-vflr--npw/base.js" name="player/base"></script>
<script>
    yt.setConfig({
        ...
    });
    writeEmbed();
</script>
<script>
    ytcsi.info('st', 35);
    ytcfg.set({
        "TIMING_ACTION": "",
        "CSI_VIEWPORT": true,
        "TIMING_INFO": {
            "c": "WEB",
            "yt_li": 1,
            "cver": "1.20161112",
            "yt_lt": "cold"
        },
        "CSI_SERVICE_NAME": "youtube"
    });
    ;</script>

There several variations of this issue:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/35178202 "ytcfg is not defined" https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/35177930 "__ytRIL is not defined"

I also just started receiving this error in my test suite, which has been passing for months. — andyisnowskynet
We had the same Problem with our automated Tests tonight. I filed a Bug in the Youtube Help Forum. productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/youtube/… — fwebdev
I got this error several minutes ago too, it seems not my fault now :) — Tien Do

David Dehghan David Dehghan · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-17T22:31:21

This is a Google bug. It also happens on Youtube's developer page. https://developers.google.com/youtube/youtube_subscribe_button

The following bugs tracks this issue.

https://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=8569 (Still active -as of Jan 5h 2017)

Please up vote on this bug using the links below so that it gets their attention. They have been sitting on it since Sep 9, 2016!!.

Uncaught ReferenceError: ytcfg is not defined (also __ytRIL is not defined)

4 Answers