YouTube RSS feed endpoint returns 404 errors

Community
1

Hi everyone,

I’ve been experiencing intermittent 404 errors when fetching YouTube channel RSS feeds over the past week. The issue seems to follow a specific pattern.

Problem: YouTube RSS feed endpoint returns 404 errors for channels that are clearly active and have public videos.

Endpoint:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id={CHANNEL_ID}

Error Response:

404 - The requested URL /feeds/videos.xml?channel_id={CHANNEL_ID} was not found on this server.

Pattern Observed:

  • Errors occur primarily between 09:00 - 12:00 UTC

  • Same channels work fine outside this time window

  • No changes made to implementation

  • Started approximately one week ago

What I’ve Verified:

  • Channels are active and public

  • Same URLs work in browser during error periods

  • No authentication issues (RSS feeds are public)

  • Different channels randomly affected each time

Questions:

  1. Is there a known rate limit for YouTube RSS feeds?

  2. Are there any changes or deprecation plans for this endpoint?

Any insights would be appreciated. Thank you!

2

Got the exact same issue!

Example:

RSS-Feed: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCQxux0Tuz8srG6sE-dujDHw
Feed HTTP/Fetch fail (try 1/3): code=404 err=

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=en>
  <meta charset=utf-8>
  <meta name=viewport content="initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, width=device-width">
  <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>
  <style>
    *{ma

Feed HTTP/Fetch fail (try 2/3): code=404 err=

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=en>
  <meta charset=utf-8>
  <meta name=viewport content="initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, width=device-width">
  <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>
  <style>
    *{ma

Feed HTTP/Fetch fail (try 3/3): code=404 err=

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=en>
  <meta charset=utf-8>
  <meta name=viewport content="initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, width=device-width">
  <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>
  <style>
    *{ma
3

Bildschirmfoto 2025-12-28 um 07.49.31
Bildschirmfoto 2025-12-28 um 07.49.311668×956 108 KB

This seem to be a major issue! Engineers need to investigate urgent on priority!

4

Now, the issue has been resolved, and it is working as expected. You can try clearing the cache or try on another browser if you still experience issues.

5

Actually with the user agent parameters it happened again in the morning during 9-12 time period. It’s working now but between 9-12 it returns 404.

How do you know the issue has been resolved @innovatix ? Can you share any detailed information or your test setup?

Thanks.

7

Hi @Goktug_Yurt , and everyone . The time is 6:18 UTC, but now also endpoint is returning 404 error. Is there any cheap or free api alternatives for this ??

9

the solution is to use YouTube Data API. But the API’s daily limit is very low. So I submitted for a daily limit increase and waiting for Google Team’s approval (or disapproval). @Nanta_gopal_C

There is also PubSubHubbub but I don’t know if it works for my system.

By the way I am not getting 404 for the last two days. =/

11

Hi all,

Are you still facing this issue?

If yes, please provide more details for reproducing the same.

Thanks!

13

Hi @Srikanta_K_N

I’m not facing this problem for about a week. During this time I applied for a quota increase for YouTube Data API. Now I have both solutions working just fine =)

But I’m still analyzing all the outputs if the problem will occur again one day since I couldn’t understand the reason why it happens.

Thank you!

15

Hello again @Srikanta_K_N

This morning it started doing this 404 error again.

The same time window, the RSS gives 404 error.

17

Hi everyone,

it happened again this morning (it is happening right now actually, 07:30 UTC).
I tried with multiple channels and same results.

image
image649×252 17.5 KB

To reproduce:
Visit https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCGceY6q-23t1eZul3KX8-PQ

18

I always thought it was about my system and my fault, and now I found this thread. I can confirm the problems. I only try to reach the RSS feed for my own channel every hour, automated with n8n:

image
image387×1143 27.8 KB

19

welcome to the club =)

we couldn’t find where the problem is or the solution

20

I have exactly the same issue at this very moment

22

I am still having the issue btw. I keep getting 404 early hours in the morning.

23

Hi Goktug,

I wanted to reach out to let you know I am experiencing the same issue with the YouTube RSS feed endpoint. I am also seeing the same 404 errors you described.

24

Thanks. There are lots of people having this issue as we are. In another forum for n8n workflows people are also reporting the same issue for a very long time.

25

Still no solution for this issue and it’s happening everyday.

26

We’re hitting the same bug @Srikanta_K_N any updates?

27

I am using OMEA Reader to keep track of 159 youtube channels I have subscribed to over the years… I’d say more than half of them do not post regularly if at all… but the software still querry them all every 30mins (default), although i have changed it lately to be 1h30 because it kept giving me error 500 or error 404…

For the past few weeks I’ve been getting 404 and 500 near the end of every single day… (most are 404, but 1 in 10 gets 500). After having the computer open for the past 12h or so, they start error’ing out… and the next morning its fine again for 7-10 hours give or take.

I’m guessing its a defense mechanism of the feeds against bots or ai… still very frustrating when its from a legit source… I wonder if removing all the channels that have not posted anything in years would help…