Why does YouTube show 'video unavailable' error when Zapier automation reports successful upload?

I’m experiencing a peculiar problem with my Zapier setup. It’s designed to fetch a video and thumbnail from Trello and then upload them to YouTube using the title and description from the card.

The odd thing is that Zapier indicates everything has gone smoothly with no error messages appearing. I’ve manually confirmed that both the video and thumbnail are accessible. YouTube even returns a success notification along with a link to the video.

However, when I follow the link, YouTube shows a ‘video unavailable’ error instead of playing the video. I’ve tested this with several YouTube accounts and reviewed all permissions, but the issue persists.

Here’s my JavaScript code that separates the video and thumbnail URLs:

// Access the 'files' field from the inputData
const fileUrl = inputData['files'];  // The 'files' field contains the two URLs separated by a comma

// Log the input to verify the value of 'files'
console.log('Input file_url:', fileUrl);

// Check if fileUrl is defined and not empty
if (fileUrl && typeof fileUrl === 'string') {
  // Split the fileUrl string into an array based on the comma
  const urls = fileUrl.split(',');

  // Log the split results to see the URLs
  console.log('Split URLs:', urls);

  // Assume the first URL is the thumbnail, and the second URL is the video
  const thumbnailUrl = urls[0].trim();  // Thumbnail URL is the first item
  const videoUrl = urls[1] ? urls[1].trim() : '';  // Video URL is the second item, if present

  // Log the video and thumbnail URLs
  console.log('Thumbnail URL:', thumbnailUrl);
  console.log('Video URL:', videoUrl);

  // Output the result
  output = {
    video_url: videoUrl,
    thumbnail_url: thumbnailUrl
  };
} else {
  // If 'files' is undefined or empty, set output to empty values and log the error
  console.log('No valid file_url input found.');
  output = {
    video_url: '',
    thumbnail_url: ''
  };
}

Has anyone encountered this problem before? What could be causing the discrepancy between Zapier claiming success and YouTube showing the video as unavailable?

This happens when YouTube accepts the upload but something breaks during processing. I’ve seen this before - the API says success but the video becomes inaccessible because of content validation failures or encoding issues. Usually it’s file size or duration limits that don’t get caught right away. YouTube sometimes accepts files that exceed your account’s limits, then makes them unavailable after processing. If your videos are over 15 minutes, check if your account is verified for longer uploads. Another issue could be that Trello’s file URLs are temporary or need authentication headers that work during upload but fail when YouTube tries to process the video later. I’d download the files locally first, then upload from your server instead of using direct URLs from Trello. This cuts out any authentication or URL expiration problems that cause post-upload failures.

Had the same issue a few months ago - turned out to be a permissions problem. Zapier showed success and the files uploaded fine, but YouTube couldn’t process them because Trello’s source URLs had access tokens that expired or changed after upload.

Here’s what worked: Check YouTube Studio 10-15 minutes after upload for processing errors that Zapier missed. YouTube sometimes accepts the upload but fails during encoding when it tries to access the source file again.

I’d add error handling to check video status through YouTube’s API after a delay instead of trusting the immediate upload response. Usually fixes itself if you re-upload from a more stable source.

yeah, that sounds like a processing delay on youtube’s part. zapier can show success, but it might still be working on your vid. and seriously, check the file format. some odd ones upload but don’t play right.