Media Extended

Fix YouTube Error 153

Steps to resolve YouTube videos showing Error 153 instead of playing in Obsidian.

YouTube sometimes shows "Error 153" instead of the video thumbnail or player. This happens when YouTube rejects an anonymous embed request.

Update Obsidian

Obsidian 1.10.6 includes a fix for Error 153 on all platforms, including Canvas, iOS, and iPadOS.

  1. Download the latest version of Obsidian and install it
  2. Restart Obsidian and re-open the note with the YouTube video

The video should now play without the error. If it doesn't, try the methods below.

Obsidian 1.10.6 release notes

Clear YouTube cookies

Available in Media Extended v4.1.2

This may not fix the issue in all cases. If it doesn't work, try the MITM proxy method below.

  1. Open the Command Palette with Ctrl / ⌘ + P
  2. Search for and select "Clear YouTube cookies"
  3. Wait for the confirmation notice
  4. Close and re-open the note with the YouTube video

The video should now load. This command clears cookies from both youtube.com and youtube-nocookie.com.

Manual alternative

If you prefer, you can clear cookies through Developer Tools:

  1. Open Developer Tools
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + I
    • macOS: ⌘ + ⌥ + I
    • Or from the menu: View > Toggle Developer Tools
  2. Open the Application tab
  3. Expand Cookies
  4. Right-click any YouTube cookies (https://www.youtube.com or https://www.youtube-nocookie.com)
  5. Select Clear

This is enabled by default in Obsidian 1.10.2 or later, or if Media Embeds is enabled with Media Extended installed.

This may not fix the issue in all cases. If it doesn't work, try the MITM proxy method below.

If you use iframe HTML embeds in your notes, change the host from youtube.com to youtube-nocookie.com:

Before:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID"></iframe>

After:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VIDEO_ID"></iframe>

Set up a MITM proxy rewrite

This method requires a network proxy tool with HTTP rewrite and MITM capabilities (Surge, Loon, Shadowrocket, etc.). Skip this if you're not familiar with proxy tools.

This is the same fix that Obsidian 1.10.6 applies internally. If you can't update Obsidian, you can apply it yourself through a proxy.

  1. Set up a network proxy tool with HTTP rewrite and MITM support (e.g., Surge, Loon, Shadowrocket)

  2. Install and trust the tool's CA certificate per its documentation. For Surge, see the MITM setup guide

  3. Enable HTTP rewrite and MITM

  4. Add www.youtube-nocookie.com and www.youtube.com to the MITM hostname list

  5. Add a request header rewrite rule:

    • Target URL pattern:
    https:\/\/www\.youtube(-nocookie)?\.com\/embed\/
    • Action: add a Referer request header with value app://obsidian.md

    (The header name Referer with one "r" is the correct HTTP spelling.)

Example Surge configuration:

[MITM]
hostname = www.youtube-nocookie.com,www.youtube.com

[Header Rewrite]
http-request https:\/\/www\.youtube(-nocookie)?\.com\/embed\/ header-add Referer app://obsidian.md

Pre-built modules

Ready-to-import modules are available for these proxy tools:

Copy the module URL and import it into your proxy tool.

See also

Fix Low YouTube Video Quality

Lock YouTube playback to your preferred quality level so videos always start crisp.

Fix YouTube "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot"

Steps to resolve YouTube showing a bot verification prompt instead of playing in Obsidian.

On this page

Update Obsidian
Clear YouTube cookies
Manual alternative
Use the no-cookie embed URL
Set up a MITM proxy rewrite
Pre-built modules
See also