[GH-ISSUE #428] 'charmap' codec can't encode characters #321

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-02-27 23:00:10 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-27 23:00:10 +03:00

Owner

Originally created by @periip on GitHub (Aug 25, 2023).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/sigma67/ytmusicapi/issues/428

Hello and thanks for using ytmusicapi! Please fill out the issue template below. Issues not following this template will be closed without comment. If you have a question only, please use GitHub discussions or gitter (linked in README).

**Describe the bug**
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

I get the exception when calling get_playlist() on playlists with Japanese or Chinese song names:
'charmap' codec can't encode characters in position 2249-2253: character maps to <undefined>

**To Reproduce**
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
PlaylistIDs with Japanese in song titles don't work: PLPK7133-0ahmzknIfvNUMNJglX-O1rTd2
Only English song titles appear to work: PL3-sRm8xAzY8LhlTyJ2uf-EcQSm_vzSqw

If there is a workaround to this, please let me know as I am new to Python.

Thanks

Originally created by @periip on GitHub (Aug 25, 2023). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/sigma67/ytmusicapi/issues/428 # Hello and thanks for using ytmusicapi! Please fill out the issue template below. Issues not following this template will be closed without comment. If you have a question only, please use GitHub discussions or gitter (linked in README). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **Describe the bug** A clear and concise description of what the bug is. I get the exception when calling get_playlist() on playlists with Japanese or Chinese song names: 'charmap' codec can't encode characters in position 2249-2253: character maps to <undefined> **To Reproduce** Steps to reproduce the behavior: PlaylistIDs with Japanese in song titles don't work: PLPK7133-0ahmzknIfvNUMNJglX-O1rTd2 Only English song titles appear to work: PL3-sRm8xAzY8LhlTyJ2uf-EcQSm_vzSqw If there is a workaround to this, please let me know as I am new to Python. Thanks

kerem

2026-02-27 23:00:10 +03:00

closed this issue
added the
invalid
label

kerem commented

2026-02-27 23:00:11 +03:00

Author

Owner

@sigma67 commented on GitHub (Aug 25, 2023):

I cannot reproduce this, the playlist you posted works just fine. Must be some issue with your local setup.

What Python version are you running? What is your code?

@sigma67 commented on GitHub (Aug 25, 2023): I cannot reproduce this, the playlist you posted works just fine. Must be some issue with your local setup. What Python version are you running? What is your code?

kerem commented

2026-02-27 23:00:11 +03:00

Author

Owner

@periip commented on GitHub (Aug 25, 2023):

Thanks for the quick reply!
I did some testing in a different folder and it indeed was local. It has something to do with the Node,js child process misreading it. It wasn't any issue with the actual API itself.

const spawn = require("child_process").spawn;

const child = spawn("python", ["test.py"]);

child.stdout.on("data", (data) => {
  console.log(`stdout: ${data}`);
});

child.stderr.on("data", (data) => {
  console.error(`stderr: ${data}`);
});

child.on("close", (code) => {
  console.log(`child process exited with code ${code}`);
});

child.stdin.write("PLPK7133-0ahmzknIfvNUMNJglX-O1rTd2"); 
child.stdin.end();

from ytmusicapi import YTMusic
import json
# import pafy

url = input()

yt = YTMusic()
try:
    songs = yt.get_playlist(url)
    print(songs)
except Exception as e:
    print("Error:", e)

@periip commented on GitHub (Aug 25, 2023): Thanks for the quick reply! I did some testing in a different folder and it indeed was local. It has something to do with the Node,js child process misreading it. It wasn't any issue with the actual API itself. ```javascript const spawn = require("child_process").spawn; const child = spawn("python", ["test.py"]); child.stdout.on("data", (data) => { console.log(`stdout: ${data}`); }); child.stderr.on("data", (data) => { console.error(`stderr: ${data}`); }); child.on("close", (code) => { console.log(`child process exited with code ${code}`); }); child.stdin.write("PLPK7133-0ahmzknIfvNUMNJglX-O1rTd2"); child.stdin.end(); ``` ```python from ytmusicapi import YTMusic import json # import pafy url = input() yt = YTMusic() try: songs = yt.get_playlist(url) print(songs) except Exception as e: print("Error:", e) ```