The popular video hosting site Youtube offers publishers the option to limit their videos to users from specific countries. Some BBC content is for instance only available for users from the UK while companies like Warner Music Group often restrict their music videos to visitors from the United States.
The messages that users receive when trying to view contents from outside the allowed countries are vast, some examples are this video is not available in your country or this video contains content from [company name] who has decided to block it in your country which both indicate that the publisher has limited access to users from specific countries.
If you search the Internet for solutions you find many different approaches to bypass the country restrictions on Youtube. Most of the solutions might have worked in the past but do not work anymore. Here is what is not working anymore:
- Replacing the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxxxx url with http://www.youtube.com/v/=NIyiOB64fc8.
- Using translation services like Google Translate or Babel Fish. This usually yields the error message “an error occurred, please try again later.
Lets cover the basics. Youtube checks the user’s IP address, looks it up to find out the country the user is living in and compares it to the allowed country listing. If the country is in the list the user is allowed to watch the video, if not an error message is displayed explaining that the video is not available in the user’s country.
Several solutions are available to overcome the country restrictions on Youtube, all make use of proxy or intermediary services to hide the user’s IP address.
Test Videos:
- US: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q05bdFtERjM
- UK: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=luuX1nAd17A
1. Using a VPN
A VPN is a virtual private network which offers secure connections between computer systems. The important aspect for this guide is the fact that all web services and websites will communicate with the IP of the VPN which then routes the traffic to the user PC. If the IP of the VPN is located in a country that is allowed to watch the video then the video can be watched by the user as well.
VPNs often offer access to different servers to reduce the latency. We have been using VyprVPN in our tests, a VPN service that is offered for free for Giganews Diamond account owners. It offers servers in the US and NL currently (so no UK video access).
Free VPN services may work as well but they usually restrict the traffic of free users. Hotspot Shield and Project Loki are two services that offer free VPN connections. You may need to narrow down the search to find a VPN with servers in a country that is on the Youtube video’s country whitelist.
If you open the US video from outside the United States you receive the following error message on Youtube.
video blocked in your country
If you now connect to a US VPN you can watch the video without problems.
unblock youtube videos
Virtual private networks are great to watch videos hassle free. The free VPN solutions are usually very restrictive and slow. Setup and signup makes this an elegant but time consuming option to view blocked Youtube videos.
2. Download the video
Youtube video download services can be very helpful. They allow the user to download the video to the local computer to watch it there. The website offering the service needs to be hosted in a country that is on the whitelist for that video.
youtube video download
Most video download services do not work even if they are located in a country that is on the video’s whitelist. Especially download services that are using a Java applet to download the videos did not work during our tests.
We were not able to find a single working UK video download service. If you know one let us know.
The option to download Youtube videos should be seen as a last resort. The method does have its advantages though, namely that the video can be watched for as long as it is stored on the local PC.
3. Web Proxies
Web proxies are proxies on websites that sit between the user’s computer and the target website. Selecting a web proxy from the right country should in theory be sufficient to play videos that are blocked in the user’s country.
Most web proxies on the other hand do not work. The message that is usually displayed on the Youtube video page reads “an error occurred, please try again later. Out of the 50 web proxies that we have tried only two have been working.
- US: Anonymous Browser
- UK: Action Access
unblock bbc youtube videos
Web proxies are great since they can be used to watch the blocked Youtube videos directly.
Proxy Server
Proxy servers need to be configured in the web browser’s settings. They route all web browser connections through their server. The destination websites interact only with the proxy server which means that the IP of the server is used to determine whether content is shown or not.
Proxies come and go as quickly – if not quicker – than web proxies. Proxy checkers like Charon can be used to verify a large list of proxy servers at once. It is possible to verify servers manually but that would mean to enter the proxy server’s information in the web browser before testing it to see if pages are loaded which is a time consuming process.
Here is a list of sites that post fresh proxies. There are more out there, just search for free proxy list, proxy server list or US proxy server.
Proxy servers need to be anonymous. Some proxy servers are not. These transparent proxies spill the user IP which has the consequence that blocked videos will remain blocked.
- http://www.samair.ru/proxy/type-01.htm
- http://www.proxylist.net/
- http://www.proxy-list.net/
- http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html
There is also a risk involved in using those proxy servers. All data will be routed through the servers for as long as the proxy is activated in the browser. It is theoretically possible to intercept that data to use it for malicious activities. Not a big problem when viewing Youtube videos though.
Do you know of another way to view blocked Youtube videos? Let us know in the comments. Have a service that should be included in the article? Post it in the comments as well and we take a look at it.
Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter.Related Articles:
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http://action-access.info/ for UK proxy, it doesn’t work as it re-direct you to the google website
It is not redirecting me
I’ve tested with other browsers: opera, firefox, IE, chrome, and it re-directs you to the google website. However, after I read your reply I wonder if i could test proxy via proxy, I mean I entered “hidemybox.com”, then put “action-access.info” and then voila, it works this time (it doesn’t re-direct me to the google anymore.
So, in conclusion, I believe “action-access.info” has blocked (redirect) you to google website for SOME COUNTRIES, and for me I live in Asian Country. Anyway as my solution before “proxy via proxy”. BTW, have u got other web proxies for UK but not “action-access.info”. As I believe enter proxy site via proxy site will DEFINITELY make your connection much SLOWER than just via only ONE proxy site.
Thanks for this article.
http://www.ultrareach.com/downloads/ultrasurf/u996.zip
just download and say what you want to see ;)
The article lists Hotspot Shield and project Loki.
Let me give you +1, that is a free VPN service without speed limits.
http://torvpn.com/
What you get is access via OpenVPN, SSH, or PPTP. In other words: change your IP easily, encrypt your communication, enjoy free internet.
Hope this is of good use.
is there something i may use tu play these movies on my ps3??
I do not think that this is possible.
Is there a way to view videos that have been globally blocked?
I uploaded this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUI53UEvkHc ) in February 2009. It went from being blocked only in Germany, then about forty more countries were added to the list, and now it’s blocked worldwide; I am the only user on YouTube who is allowed to view it.
I would really appreciate it if someone knows a way around this pesky intellectual property protection bullshit so that I can share this video with my friends.
Thanks.
WHEN I OPEN YOUTUBE PAGE APPEAR TO ME MESSAGE Site has been blocked by IT Management CAN YOU SOLVE THIS PROBLEM
@arnold…
if ur company has blocked something.. it means u r not suppose to watch it.. :P
If The Above Methods Dont Work Use Google Chrome/ Go to Options/ Privacy/ Click “Content Setting” Scroll Down to “Location” and Click ” Do Not Allow Sites to Track Physical Location ”
and That Should Work
first open the website browse.ly then write URL, eg http://www.youtube.com/
and there u go.
This is a US based ssl web proxy that allows you to watch YouTube videos ~ https://proximize.me