How to Fix a 400 Bad Request Error?

In this guide, I will walk you through the steps to fix YouTube error 400 Bad Request. Keep reading!

YouTube is the biggest and most popular video viewing website and application; it is the world’s second most popular search engine. Either if you are looking for a movie trailer, video song, news, DIY (Do It Yourself) video guides, education tutorials, news and etc then YouTube is the best and easy to operate website or application for entertainment and education.

As it is owned by Google, it works pretty well most of the times but sometimes you face certain issues while watching videos. When you open YouTube in your laptop or desktop then you may come up with error 400, error 401, error 404, error 500, error 503, and many more errors.

In this article, our target is to fix YouTube error 400 and we will mainly focus on that. The prescribed practical solutions will be helpful to fix the error. You may face this error while browsing YouTube on PC, mobile, and even on the smart TV.

What is the YouTube Error 400 Bad Request?

“YouTube Error 400 Bad Request” is mainly not connected with YouTube but with the HTTP protocol. The error represents an HTTP status code that the request you sent to the website server often server couldn’t understand it simple like incorrect website name, corrupted page or to reload the web page. This error could appear on any website due to some of the reasons while visiting YouTube. But the technical term for this error is not YouTube error 400, it is just error 400 bad request. As most of the users call it YouTube error 400, so it is termed as above. We will also use the same term YouTube error 400 in this article.

How does 400 Bad Request Error look like?

This error 400 can appear on any website. Usually, it appears differently on different websites. Here are some of the most common error messages reported by users while facing this error 400:

400 Bad Request
Bad Request – Invalid URL
Bad Request: Error 400
HTTP Error 400 – Bad Request
HTTP Error 400. The request hostname is invalid.
Bad Request. Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
YouTube Error 400- This error message encountered by users while searching for videos on YouTube.
400 – Bad request. The request could not be understood by the server due to malformed syntax. The client should not repeat the request without modifications.
The 400 Bad Request error displays inside the internet web browser window, just as web pages do.

Why 400 Bad Request Error appears?

The possible reasons behind this error 400 are listed as under:

URL String Syntax
Corrupted Browser Cache and Cookies
File SIze too Large
DNS Cache
In some situations, AdBlock extension or some other browser extension may be the reason for getting this error 400. So, disable all your chrome browser extensions or other browser extensions if you are using any other browser.
It is also possible to have a bug on the server-side which needs to be fixed. Give some time and try again later, it is possible that your YouTube will work again.
If you are getting the same error on loading all the websites then the problem may be due to the slow internet connection, run the speed test to check whether the internet connection is available or not.

How to fix the “400 Bad Request” error on Windows?

YouTube error 400 Bad Request is an illegal or malformed request. Furthermore, the reasons for this error will be the most complicated and silly ones too. You just follow the simple steps below with images for your easy understanding which will be able to fix the error by the end of this article.

Refresh the Page

F5 is the function key and command of refreshing the Windows PC. Just right-click on the mouse pick refresh option and now press F5 several times to refresh PC. Sometimes it works to fix YouTube error 400 but not for sure and the important thing is there are no side effects of doing so which also helps your laptop / PC to work faster. This is the easiest thing that you can do without the need for any special skills and will fix such errors in most of the cases.

Right-click on the mouse button, the window will pop-up. Now click on the refresh option.

Or press function key F5 present on the keyboard. So that it will refresh your computer.

If you already refreshed the page and still YouTube error 400 is persisting then please move on to the next solution to fix the error.

Try Opening Other Websites

If you are trying to open a particular website and getting the 400 errors, then I advise you to try to open some other websites to check if the error continues. If it appears, it might be a problem with your machine or networking devices than the website you are trying to open. Now as you have found out some root cause of the error you should fix those issues. So follow the next method to fix the error 400.

Check for the errors in the URL

The first important thing that is to be checked out when you have encountered YouTube error 400 is due to wrong typed URL (that is nothing but a spelling mistake) or the link that was clicked is malformed URL with a specific kind of mistake in it like a syntax problem.

NOTE: Most likely the problem is the error occurred due to the extra or typically not allowed characters in the URL. So, please return to the standard YouTube URL and search for the video you want by typing the name of the video.

Replace the Direct Link of the Video with Video ID

If you are still having YouTube error 400 then another quick solution is to replace the link of the video with the video ID. It is quite simple to find the YouTube video ID.

Follow the below steps to find the video ID of YouTube video and how to use it.

First get your required video link in the YouTube, For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owPuQjInzO8
Now take the Video ID from the above link which is a combination of numbers and letters just after a sign “=” (equal to) sign.

Clear the Cookies for YouTube

If you want to delete cookies especially for YouTube instead of deleting all the cookies and losing all your saved settings to login password for every website again. Just have to delete cookies related to YouTube and see if it works for you.

The only drawback of using the clear cookie for YouTube is that you will be logged out of the YouTube account.

Below is the image of the menu bar which is having 3 vertical dots on the top right corner of the browser window that is to open the menu bar section.

Click on the Settings option as below shown picture.

Scroll down the setting window. You will see the advanced option at the bottom of the page, click on it.

In advanced option move to the content settings option which you will find under privacy and security. Click on the Site Settings.

Under the settings, you will find cookies click on it.

You will find see all cookies and site data under the cookies section, click on it to proceed further.

On the top, you will find the Search bar and type YouTube in that to get all the cookies related to YouTube.

Then all the cookies related to YouTube are shown click on remove all shown button.

Next, you will have a pop–up window to clear site data to delete all the cookies. Now all the YouTube related cookies are deleted and close your browser then restart your system/laptop.

Or you can follow this path to clear the site data/cookies:

Menu Bar > Settings > Advanced > Content Settings > Cookies > Type YouTube in search bar > Click on the remove all shown button > Confirm > Restart Computer.

If this doesn’t work out for you then go for the next solution.

Delete Browser Cache

If you remove the browser cache then it may work to not get YouTube error 400 Bad Request. You have to uncheck all the other options and check the box of cached images and files to empty the browser cache. To do so follow these steps:

Click on the menu button on the top right corner of the Google Chrome browser as we have seen on the above process. And next, click on the settings under menu options.

Click on the advanced settings on the bottom of the settings page.

Next, on the settings page, you will find the privacy and security category under it click on the clear browsing data.

Uncheck all options Except cached images and files as shown in the image. Now, click on the clear data option.

For some of the users, this solution may work out, if at all the problem persists then continue to the next step.

Resetting the Browser Settings

Another simple solution for this YouTube error 400 is by resetting the Chrome settings. Please follow the below steps to reset your Chrome settings.

Click on the menu bar at the right upper side of your browser. Go to the settings option.

Go to the bottom of the settings page where you can find the advanced settings option click on that option.

You will find the restore settings to their original defaults option at last of that page under advanced settings window, click on that option.

Next, a window is pop-up and click on the Reset settings to restore the settings to default.

Now close the browser and restart your computer to make the changes and next open the YouTube link whether to check either error is reset or not.

Clear DNS Cache

If none of the above solutions worked out then you should clear the DNS cache on your computer. To clear the DNS cache to follow the below steps.

If you are using Windows 7 or older version, then go to start button type CMD in the search bar. When cmd is shown then right-click on it and select the option of Run as administrator.
OR
If you are using Windows 10 then you can press the Windows button present and keyboard and type command prompt (admin) in the search engine then click on it.

When the command prompt window will open then type ipconfig/flushdns and press Enter.

After pressing Enter, you will get the display screen as below figure.

The most common reason for this YouTube error 400 in DNS are “gsscrollpos” cookies that somehow corrupts your HTTP request.

Restart Your Computer and Networking Devices

Though this is a hit and trial method, sometimes restarting your computer and your networking devices (routers, modems) can help you in fixing the error 400 or other errors related to the server.

Contact the Website Admin

If none of the methods helped you to fix the error 400 Bad Request then there are chances that the website you are trying to browse itself might be having some issues. In such a case, try to contact the website owner or administrator through the contact us page or through social media. Chances are, they are already aware of the problem and working on fixing it.

How to Fix Error 400 Bad Request on Smartphone?

You can try to resolve the YouTube 400 Bad Request Error in the smartphone by using four options that are given below for your convenience:

The error may be due to the internet connection problem, so check the internet connection whether it is slow or fast. If the connection is slow then try after some time else continue with the below options.

If the problem persists then switch off and restart the smartphone or you can reboot the smartphone.

You can also try to load the video by using the Video ID, just to get the Video ID that is present after the “=” (equal to) sign in the URL, copy and paste it in the browser. When you click on the video you will get options of opening through app or browser. Choose one which is getting an error to check whether it works.

Still, the problem persists then go to the settings under that installed application. Search for YouTube or browsers whichever has the problem, open it, and clear data. Now, you can open YouTube or browser app and add an account to it. Most of the users will get YouTube back with this option.

How to Fix YouTube 400 Bad Request Error on SmartTV?

On the smart TV YouTube 400 Bad Request error occurs due to different reasons, so try the below solutions to get your YouTube working back on your smart TV:

Initially look whether the device is having the latest software else update the software. If it is up to date then continue with the below solutions.
You may try by disconnecting and connecting the power supply, wait at least five 5 minutes after disconnection and later connect. Still, the problem exists then go for the next solution.

Go with this option if you are using the YouTube application on your smart TV. Under the home section go to settings, select the option of the app, on the next screen opt for YouTube. Under that, you can find a clear data option, select it, and confirm by selecting ok. This will clear all the data regarding YouTube and it may resolve the error.

If you are using the browser in your smart TV then go to Home, select application, next Opt for a browser (any browser you are using in your smart TV). Under the menu in the browser, you will find browser setting click on that, and on the next window, you can find delete all cookies option. A dialogue box will open click on Yes. This may work out to work YouTube without an error.
The last solution is nothing but the hard reset of your device or to restore the default settings.

These are the best possible solutions that helped to solve YouTube error 400 while browsing for a YouTube video. I hope that anyone of the above reasons works well and solved your problem.

Conclusion

Getting error 400 after following the above solutions will be a rare case. The error 400 will encounter not only on YouTube but also for different sites and for the browser itself. The methods that are prescribed above will be worked out in the HTTP error 400 occurrences in different situations. Still, if you have the same YouTube error 400 then please free to comment below. If you are having any suggestions and solutions to fix this error please write in the comment section. If you feel this article helpful please like, share, and follow our Facebook page and keep visiting our website for such tutorials.