Open Video Downloader Error Unhandled Error Execa Top -

Overly aggressive antivirus software (including Windows Defender’s "Controlled Folder Access" or Real-time Protection) can intercept execa attempts to launch yt-dlp or ffmpeg.

As a last resort, switch from Open Video Downloader to a more robust GUI that doesn’t rely on execa for process checking:

Or use the command line directly, which is error-free once yt-dlp is installed:

yt-dlp -f bestvideo+bestaudio --merge-output-format mp4 "https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."

If you built the app from source or are using a portable version:

# Navigate to the app's directory
npm install
npm rebuild

Open Video Downloader relies on an embedded yt-dlp.exe (Windows) or binary (macOS/Linux). open video downloader error unhandled error execa top

If missing, download the latest yt-dlp.exe from yt-dlp GitHub and place it in that folder.

Websites change constantly. An outdated downloader is the #1 cause of cryptic errors.

Corrupted cache can confuse execa. Reset the app data:

Also uninstall and reinstall Open Video Downloader from the official GitHub or Microsoft Store (Windows) / Flathub (Linux). Or use the command line directly, which is

Some antivirus software (especially McAfee, Norton, and Windows Defender’s Controlled Folder Access) blocks yt-dlp from writing files or executing subprocesses. To test:

After testing, re-enable protection. If this fixes it, add permanent exclusions.

Sometimes execa cannot spawn a new process because the GUI lacks permission to execute child processes.

Windows: Right-click the Open Video Downloader shortcut → Run as administrator. If you built the app from source or

macOS: Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation → Allow Open Video Downloader to control System Events.

Linux: Run from terminal with sudo (not recommended for regular use) or adjust AppArmor/SELinux policies if they are blocking process spawning.

After elevating permissions, test if the error persists.