A Complete List of Video Advertising Error Codes

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Below is a combined list of video advertising error codes from VAST 3.0 & 4.1, the IMA3 SDK and video players from Brightcove, VideoJS, JWPlayer and more. Included are their possible causes and recommended resolutions.

Error severity levels:

Non-Fatal – An error is triggered but the video ad request is not interrupted and a video ad is successfully served.

Fatal – An error is triggered and the video ad request is stopped, preventing an ad being played. This is either followed by video content playback or a new ad request being triggered (depending on player configuration).

More information can be found in the IAB VAST Specification Guide, Google DFP Help, Brightcove Support or JWPlayer.

100 – 102: VAST XML Document Errors
200 – 203: VAST Creative File Errors
300 – 303: VAST Ad Request Errors
400 – 410: VAST Linear Tag Errors
500 – 503: VAST Non-Linear Tag Errors
600 – 604: VAST Companion Ad Errors
900 – 901: VPAID Errors
Brightcove Player Ad Errors
JWPlayer Ad Errors
1005 – 2048: IMA3 SDK Errors
Freewheel Errors

Sources:

IAB TechLab Wiki
DoubleClick For Publishers
Brightcove Player Events
JWPlayer API Documentation

VAST XML Document Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
100	Yes	VAST XML parsing error	This can be caused when the buyer’s response is either malformed or an otherwise invalid XML document, or a redirect VAST URL that fails to resolve successfully	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted and contains all of the required elements and attributes. Refer to the VAST specification from the IAB
101	Yes	VAST schema validation error	This can be caused when the buyer’s response is missing required elements or attributes of the XML or contained unrecognized elements, according to the IAB standard, such as: InLine and Wrapper both present AdTagURI missing in Wrapper element Duration missing Missing Ad node or MediaFile node Offset attribute on Progress event is missing or not a valid value	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer -Verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted and contains all of the required elements and attributes. Refer to the VAST specification from the IAB
102	Yes	VAST version of response not supported	This can be caused when a video player does not support the VAST version specified in the bid request, i.e. the bidder did not respect the VAST version(s) listed in the bid request or the exchange is sending wrong VAST version(s) in the bid request	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that only supported VAST versions are sent in a response

Code

Fatal

Definition

Likely Cause

Remedial Action

100

Yes

VAST XML parsing error

This can be caused when the buyer’s response is either malformed or an otherwise invalid XML document, or a redirect VAST URL that fails to resolve successfully

Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted and contains all of the required elements and attributes. Refer to the VAST specification from the IAB

101

Yes

VAST schema validation error

This can be caused when the buyer’s response is missing required elements or attributes of the XML or contained unrecognized elements, according to the IAB standard, such as:

InLine and Wrapper both present
AdTagURI missing in Wrapper element
Duration missing
Missing Ad node or MediaFile node
Offset attribute on Progress event is missing or not a valid value

Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer -Verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted and contains all of the required elements and attributes. Refer to the VAST specification from the IAB

102

Yes

VAST version of response not supported

This can be caused when a video player does not support the VAST version specified in the bid request, i.e. the bidder did not respect the VAST version(s) listed in the bid request or the exchange is sending wrong VAST version(s) in the bid request

Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that only supported VAST versions are sent in a response

VAST Creative File Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
200	Maybe	Video player expecting different ad type	This can be caused when a video player does not expect or support an ad type requested in a bid request. For example: Player wanted Skippable Linear, but got back Linear Player wanted Linear, but got back Skippable Linear For Skippable Linear, skipoffset doesn’t meet publisher expectations Bidder did not respect the skip-ability/skipoffset in the bid request Exchange is sending wrong skip-ability/skipoffset in the bid request	Publisher – Check for trafficking errors or alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that only specified ad types are sent in a response, and that skippable linear creatives respect the skip offset attribute
201	Maybe	Video player expecting different linearity	This can be caused when the linearity in the buyer’s response does not match the video player’s request. For example: Bidder did not respect the linearity in the bid request. Exchange is sending wrong linearity in the bid request Ensure linearity requested is being respected	Publisher – Ensure that the correct linearity is specified in the ad request Buyer – Ensure that the response only includes linearity specified in the request
202	Maybe	Video player expecting different duration	This can be caused when the creative returned is a different duration than specified. For example, a creative of duration 30 seconds is returned, but the actual MediaFile duration is 60 seconds	Publisher – Ensure that the creative duration is set properly in DFP Buyer – Ensure that the response respects the max duration specified in the request
203	Maybe	Video player expecting different size	This can be caused when a buyer’s returned MediaFiles are incompatible with the device from which the bid request is sent. For example: When high bitrate creatives are returned to mobile devices No MediaFile is available with dimensions that are matching for the device (i.e. mobile devices that cannot play full HD)	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that your response includes MediaFiles that are compatible with different technologies and devices, including bitrates

VAST Ad Request Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
300	Yes	General wrapper error	This can be caused when the wrapper limit is reached	This is a general wrapper error and is not actionable, however: Check that all VAST URIs are reachable and not timing out Ensure wrapper limit is not reached
301 / 301:20301	Yes	VAST redirect timeout reached	This can be caused when a VAST redirect tag does not return a response within the timeout (5 seconds is the default) specified in a wrapper element, due to one of the following: Non-optimized page Player timeout set too low Invalid URI, unreachable or request timeout for a URI, or other exceptions related to requesting a VAST URI. High latency connection (for example, 3G) or simply a slow response from a buyer HTTP serving to HTTPS	Publisher -Increase the timeout limit of your player Buyer -Ensure that the VAST redirect URI is reachable and no protocol issues exist (for example, responses hosted on HTTP and served to an HTTPS site
302 / 302:20302	Yes	Wrapper limit reached	This can be caused when the wrapper limit defined by the video player is reached, due to either: Too many wrapper responses are received without an inline response A circular loop of daisy chaining exists (one network bouncing to another and another) Too many empty VAST responses from video fallback	Publisher – Increase the wrapper limit of your player via the SDK Buyer -Verify that any VAST redirects are not redirecting again to another network. When too many redirects are called from a video player before a valid MediaFile is returned, the player might abort the ad request
303 / 303:20303	Yes	Empty VAST response returned	This can be caused when no ads are returned in a VAST response after one or more wrappers. This also includes empty VAST responses from video fallback.When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors	Publisher – Ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network. Video fallback may be helpful to avoid losing impressions Buyer – Ensure that bids are not being returned with an empty VAST response, and that empty responses are not being returned by the advertiser or agency hosting the creative

VAST Linear Tag Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
400 / 400:20400	Yes	General linear error	This can be caused when a video player is unable to display the linear ad. It may occur when the MediaFile is not a valid video file of the specified format, or because the browser restricted autoplay with sound, or another unknown reason	Publisher – Check for player issues, enable your player to detect for restricted autoplay, or alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
401	Yes	MediaFile not found	This can be caused when a file cannot be found from a MediaFile URI	Publisher – Ensure that all MediaFiles in the response return a valid video asset. If not, alert the buyer Buyer -Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
402 / 402:20402	No	Timeout of MediaFile URI	This can be caused by a problem fetching or playing the MediaFile, and could be any of the following: The loadVideoTimeout is set too low in the IMA SDK. (the default is 8 seconds) Low bandwidth or poor website implementation with competing requests that delay loading of the MediaFile A video auto-plays in a mobile environment, whereas it should be click-to-play (there are some exceptions) Showing video ads in an auto-play environment (for example, a playlist), while the window is not in focus (either another tab is selected, or window is minimized) (Chrome only)	Publisher – Increase the timeout limit of your player Buyer – Ensure that any CDN-hosted creatives are returned within the specified media timeout
403	Yes	Could not find MediaFile that is supported by this video player, based on the attributes of the MediaFile element	This can be caused by a VAST response that declares unsupported MIME types for all available MediaFiles. For example: Bidder did not respect mime types in bid request Exchange did not send correct mime types May indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play such as a Flash creative attempted to play on a mobile device or WebM on iOS	Publisher – Ensure that the creative format or technology requested is supported by the video player’s device and platform. For example, VPAID creatives should not be requested from mobile apps Buyer – Ensure that all returned creatives respect the video format in the bid request
405	Yes	Problem displaying MediaFile	This can be caused when a faulty creative is returned due to a mismatch between the MIME type and the video file type, a CORS configuration on the creative’s CDN, transcoding-related reason such as an unsupported codec, or unsupported delivery method	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that all creative MIME types and CDN configurations are accurate
406	No	Missing required mezzanine file	This can be caused a VAST response is returned without a required mezzanine file. Publishers with server-side ad implementations (SSAI) often require mezzanine files, which are raw high-quality video files for ad-stitching, or to generate video files of appropriate quality (VAST 4)	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that a mezzanine file is included in your response when required by the publisher
407	Yes	Mezzanine file downloaded for the first time	This can be caused when the mezzanine file is downloaded for the first time, so no ad is served. It can also occur when an ad insertion is missed because the creative is being transcoded. It continues to occur until the creative is available for insertion (VAST 4)	No action required
408	Yes	Ad rejected in VAST response	This can be caused when the ad returned in the VAST response is rejected	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that only approved creatives are returned in your VAST response, or that any advertisers or agencies hosting the creatives are aware of rejections
409	Yes	Interactive unit in the InteractiveCreativeFile node was not executed	This can be caused when a creative defined in the InteractiveCreativeFile node does not execute	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that any interactive creatives returned in your response successfully play when requested
410	Yes	Verification unit in the Verification node was not executed	This can be caused when the code referenced in the AdVerification node does not execute (VAST 4)	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that the verification code referenced in the response is correctly implemented according to the verification vendor

VAST Non-linear Tag Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
500	Yes	General NonLinearAds error	This can be caused when a video player is unable to display a non-linear ad, for an unknown reason	Publisher – Check for video player issues or alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
501	Yes	Non-linear ad creative dimensions do not align with creative display area	This can be caused when a non-linear ad is unable to play because the creative dimensions did not align with creative display area (the creative dimension was too large). It may occur if you use CSS styles to set width and height of the video content element	Publisher – Ensure that the set width and height match the display area. If you set the width and height of the video content element with CSS styles, set them with HTML attributes instead Buyer -Alert the publisher
502	Yes	Unable to fetch NonLinearAds/NonLinear resource	This can be caused when the buyer’s response returns a non-linear ad that fails to return a valid creative	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer -Ensure that valid creatives are returned in the non-linear ad response
503 / 503:20503	Yes	Could not find NonLinearresource with supported type	This error can be caused when a creative size is larger than the player size, or not a proper media type	Publisher – Ensure that requested creative sizes and media types are acceptable for the video player Buyer -Alert the publisher

VAST Companion Ad Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
600	Maybe	General CompanionAds error	This can be caused when a publisher is unable to display a companion ad, for an unknown reason	Publisher – Check for ad serving issues, or alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
601	Maybe	Companion creative dimensions did not align with companion display area	This can be caused when the companion creative dimensions do not fit within Companion display area (i.e., no available space)	Publisher – Ensure that the requested companion ad size fits within the dimension of the ad unit from which the request is made Buyer – Alert the publisher
602	Maybe	Unable to display Required Companion	This can be caused the publisher is unable to render the companion ad creative returned in the VAST response	Publisher – Check for ad serving issues, or alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
603	Maybe	Unable to fetch CompanionAds/Companion resource	This can be caused when the buyer’s response returns a companion ad that fails to return a valid creative	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure that valid creatives are returned in the companion ad response
604	Maybe	Could not find Companion resource with supported type	This can be caused when a publisher requests an unsupported creative type for the companion ad slot	Publisher – Ensure that specified creative types are supported for the companion ad slot Buyer – Alert the publisher

VPAID Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
900 / 900:20900	Yes	Undefined VAST 2 error	This is the result of an unknown VAST 2 error, which likely stopped the ad request	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Work with the publisher to troubleshoot the exact issue
901 / 901:20901	Yes	General VPAID error	This can be caused by any VPAID error, which could be any of the following: SSP VPAID wrapper not buying SSP VPAID wrapper timeout VPAID creatives required insecure mode An Ad Exchange “IMA Adapter” tag is used with the IMA SDK, and a VPAID ad is returned (the “Direct SDK” tag should be used)	Publisher – Ensure that any VPAID creative requests are supported for devices and players. You can use video creative profiles to control which creatives are eligible to serve Buyer – Ensure that any VAST responses that return HTML5 VPAID wrappers from IAS/DV/MOAT include an MP4 asset, and that the wrapper is not aborting playback. Also, ensure that you don’t bid on impressions without a determined advertiser or buyer, or attempt to initiate a client-side resale

Code

Fatal

Definition

Likely Cause

Remedial Action

900 / 900:20900

Yes

Undefined VAST 2 error

This is the result of an unknown VAST 2 error, which likely stopped the ad request

Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Work with the publisher to troubleshoot the exact issue

901 / 901:20901

Yes

General VPAID error

This can be caused by any VPAID error, which could be any of the following:

SSP VPAID wrapper not buying
SSP VPAID wrapper timeout
VPAID creatives required insecure mode
An Ad Exchange “IMA Adapter” tag is used with the IMA SDK, and a VPAID ad is returned (the “Direct SDK” tag should be used)

Publisher – Ensure that any VPAID creative requests are supported for devices and players. You can use video creative profiles to control which creatives are eligible to serve
Buyer – Ensure that any VAST responses that return HTML5 VPAID wrappers from IAS/DV/MOAT include an MP4 asset, and that the wrapper is not aborting playback. Also, ensure that you don’t bid on impressions without a determined advertiser or buyer, or attempt to initiate a client-side resale

Brightcove Player Ad Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
adtimeout	Yes	IMA3 has timed out	A timeout managed by the plugin has expired and regular video content has begun to play. Ad integrations have a fixed amount of time to inform the plugin of their intent during playback. If the ad integration is blocked by network conditions or an error, this event will fire and regular playback resumes rather than stalling the player indefinitely
ima3-hardtimeout	Yes	IMA3 hard timeout reached	A timeout managed by the Brightcove Player has expired and the ad execution has been abandoned with regular video content started. Brightcove has a setting that gives the IMA plugin a fixed amount of time to complete its execution. If it fails to do so the Player will abandon the ad execution irrespective of how far it has reached in its cycle.	If you see a high rate of this error type it’s advisable to adjust the levels accordingly in your Brightcove player settings
ima3error	Yes	IMA3 SDK failed to load	There was an error loading the IMA3 SDK from Google. If it occurs, no ads will be displayed and regular content will be started. The cause of this could be due to an active ad blocker intercepting the call to load the SDK. Or other network conditions might have caused the IMA3 SDK to not load properly.	If you see a high rate of this error it’s advisable to contact your Brightcove Support rep to investigate further

JWPlayer Ad Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
900:60001	Yes	No Ad element in VAST document after following wrappers.	When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors. You can check to ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network. Some ad providers use empty VAST 3.0 responses to show that they have received the request but do not wish to fill it.
60002	Yes	The amount of ad impressions your account has generated in the calendar month exceeds the specified limit.	.	Contact your JW Player sales representative for more details or for upgrade options
60003	Yes	The viewer has an ad blocker app or extension installed for their browser.
60004	Yes	Issue with CDN server. Timeout (in milliseconds) when loading a VPAID ad response. If loading takes longer than this timeout, the ad playback is canceled.	Can be caused by low bandwidth, or poor website implementation with competing requests that delay the loading of the VPAID ad response.	he timeout is configurable for using the creativeTimeout and requestTimeout configuration options. However, increasing the timeout could potentially negatively affect user experience.
1002:60005	Yes	No Ad element in VAST document after following wrappers.	When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors. You can check to ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network. Some ad providers use empty VAST 3.0 responses to show that they have received the request but do not wish to fill it.
900:60006	Yes	An ad tag failed to download, but not inside of a wrapper.
900:60007	Yes	An ad tag failed to play because of an unsupported operating system.
60900	Yes	Unknown error.	.

IMA3 SDK Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
1005 / 900:1005	Yes	The Ad Request Failed	There has been a CORS error when the IMA SDK attempted to request the add / process the VAST document.	Ensure that all ad server URIs, media file URIs and tracking URIs follow CORS best practices (see https://enable-cors.org/). Also ensure that your players are not embedded in non-approved domains.
1007	Yes	Media Asset Not Found	Could not find a media file that is supported by this video player, based on the attributes of the MediaFile element.This may indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play. This error type is more common on mobile	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure the right media file format is being targeted to the right device type
1007 / 900:1007	Yes	Media Asset Not Found	Could not find a media file that is supported by this video player, based on the attributes of the MediaFile element.This may indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play. This error type is more common on mobile	Publisher – Alert the buyer Buyer – Ensure the right media file format is being targeted to the right device type
1009 / 900:1009 / 900:21009	Yes	Empty VAST Response	No ads VAST response after one or more wrappers. This also includes the number of empty VAST responses from fallback. When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors	Check to ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network
1010 / 900:1010, / 900:21010	Yes	Unknown Ad Response	The response from the ad server was malformed or indeterminate
1011 / 900:1011	Yes	Unsupported Locale	The locale specified for the SDK is not supported	Check the settings of the IMA SDK to ensure locale is set properly
1105 / 900:1105	Yes	Invalid AdX Extension	An invalid AdX extension was found
1012 / 900:1012 / 900:21012	Yes	Request blocked / Network error	There was a problem requesting ads from the server due to an error caused by an invalid or malformed XML file.	Contact your Ad server support team for more help
1013 / 900:1013	Yes	Invalid ad tag	The ad tag URL specified was invalid. It needs to be properly encoded
1020 / 900:1020	Yes	Stream initialisation failed	There was an error with stream initialisation during server side ad insertion
1021 / 900:1021 / 900:21021	Yes	Asset fallback no ad replacement	The fallback failed to return an ad	Ensure your line items are properly setup and you have sufficient demand in your fallback sequence
1101 / 900:1101	Yes	Invalid Arguments in the Request	Invalid arguments were provided to IMA SDK methods	Please contact the support team of your video player provider
1205 / 900:1205	Yes	The browser prevented playback initiated without user interaction	Autoplay videos are not supported in some browsers. This error is thrown when the browser has prevent an attempt to auto play
2025 / 900:2025	Yes	DisplayObject not a child		See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2032 / 900:2032	Yes	URL access blocked		See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2035 / 900:2035	Yes	Incorrect path to assets		See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2036 / 900:2036	Yes	Flash ad failed to load		See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2048 / 900:2048	Yes	CORS security violation	This is caused when a page or player loaded using HTTPS tries to load a ad resource over HTTP	Check and ensure all creative and redirect URIs are being served over HTTPS

Freewheel Errors

Code	Fatal	Definition	Likely Cause	Remedial Action
req-failed	Yes	Ad Request Failed	Most likely an ad blocker interferes with the ad request. Could also be a https/http mismatch in a redirect or bad network conditions.	Check for ad blocking and ensure any redirect tags used are secured. Also look for error clustering around mobiles or other devices that use low bandwidth connections.
_e_3p-comp	Yes	3rd-party component error	A 3rd party ad creative has failed to load. This could be a video file formatting mismatch or a creative script error (such as a faulty VPAID unit).	Review the Creative in question and ensure its format matches the Placement / Targeting set.
_e_timeout	Yes	Ad timeout	The time allotted for the ad request to complete has expired.	Let the player increase the timeout time by setting the respective timeout parameter (for example, on iOS video it should be “renderer.video.timeout”).
_e_security	Yes	Security error	There has been a network security error thrown somewhere along the ad fulfilment chain.	Check and confirm the format of the creative asset, especially its hosting setup to ensure it doesn’t violate any CORS policy.
_e_io	Yes	Network i/o error	The ad tag used did not return a valid HTTP response	Try out the ad tag in a browser to ensure proper response from the server. Ensure there are no typos or unfilled macros.
_e_no-ad	Yes	No Ad Returned	A 3rd party ad server did not return an ad for this request.This error is only counted when it can be recognised as a “no ad” situation, such as empty VAST response, or VAST response without valid ads. In comparison, the VPAID 1.0 protocol allows creatives to throw errors, but didn’t specify a clear way to specify the error reason as “no ad”, so the VPAID ad cannot generate this error but will only generate eunknown error instead.	Notify the 3rd party platform of this error and its location to begin troubleshooting.
_e_no-renderer	Yes	No Renderer Selected	Most typically occurring in mobile apps, the device is unable to render the delivered creative file	Ensure a support file format is delivered to the right device. Also check that the right rendering libraries are included in the native code
_e_parse	Yes	Ad parse error	There was a problem requesting ads from the server due to an error caused by an invalid or malformed XML file.	Contact your Ad server support team for more help
INVALID_ASSET_CUSTOM_ID	No	Invalid Asset ID	The video asset id cannot be found in Freewheel MRM system
ASSET_DURATION_NOT_AVAILABLE	No	Video Asset Duration is Not Available	asset.duration doesn’t appear in adRequest, and doesn’t exist in db.
INVALID_ASSET_DURATION	No	Asset Duration Not Valid	asset.duration is invalid (less than 1, string, etc…)
NETWORK_NOT_FOUND	Yes	FW Network ID Not Found	he network id set in the AdManager was no valid

If you still have questions about errors or issues that you are seeing then please get in touch.

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