diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0a62d8e74c..772395d24d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1761,7 +1761,7 @@ $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
 
 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
 
-Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=mediaconnect,web;formats=incomplete" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
+Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=tv,mweb;formats=incomplete" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
 
 Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
 
@@ -1770,7 +1770,7 @@ The following extractors use this feature:
 #### youtube
 * `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
 * `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
-* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `ios` and `android`, with variants `_music` and `_creator` (e.g. `ios_creator`); and `mweb`, `mediaconnect`, `android_vr`, `web_safari`, `web_embedded`, `tv` and `tv_embedded` with no variants. By default, `ios,mweb` is used, and `web_creator` is added as needed for age-gated videos when account age verification is required. Similarly, the `_music` variants are added for `music.youtube.com` URLs. Some clients, such as `web` and `android`, require a `po_token` for their formats to be downloadable. Some clients, such as the `_creator` variants, will only work with authentication. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients. You can prefix a client with `-` to exclude it, e.g. `youtube:player_client=all,-web`
+* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `ios` and `android`, with variants `_music` and `_creator` (e.g. `ios_creator`); and `mweb`, `android_vr`, `web_safari`, `web_embedded`, `tv` and `tv_embedded` with no variants. By default, `ios,mweb` is used, or `web_creator,mweb` is used when authenticating with cookies. The `_music` variants are added for `music.youtube.com` URLs. Some clients, such as `web` and `android`, require a `po_token` for their formats to be downloadable. Some clients, such as the `_creator` variants, will only work with authentication. Not all clients support authentication via cookies. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients. You can prefix a client with `-` to exclude it, e.g. `youtube:player_client=all,-web`
 * `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
 * `player_params`: YouTube player parameters to use for player requests. Will overwrite any default ones set by yt-dlp.
 * `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
diff --git a/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py b/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py
index 7a9133466d..a67f09e623 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 1,
         'REQUIRE_PO_TOKEN': True,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     # Safari UA returns pre-merged video+audio 144p/240p/360p/720p/1080p HLS formats
     'web_safari': {
@@ -95,6 +96,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 1,
         'REQUIRE_PO_TOKEN': True,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     'web_embedded': {
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT': {
@@ -104,6 +106,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
             },
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 56,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     'web_music': {
         'INNERTUBE_HOST': 'music.youtube.com',
@@ -114,6 +117,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
             },
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 67,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     # This client now requires sign-in for every video
     'web_creator': {
@@ -125,6 +129,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 62,
         'REQUIRE_AUTH': True,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     'android': {
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT': {
@@ -157,6 +162,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         'REQUIRE_JS_PLAYER': False,
         'REQUIRE_PO_TOKEN': True,
         'REQUIRE_AUTH': True,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     # This client now requires sign-in for every video
     'android_creator': {
@@ -191,6 +197,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 28,
         'REQUIRE_JS_PLAYER': False,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     # iOS clients have HLS live streams. Setting device model to get 60fps formats.
     # See: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipeExtractor/issues/680#issuecomment-1002724558
@@ -225,6 +232,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 26,
         'REQUIRE_JS_PLAYER': False,
         'REQUIRE_AUTH': True,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     # This client now requires sign-in for every video
     'ios_creator': {
@@ -253,6 +261,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
             },
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 2,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     'tv': {
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT': {
@@ -262,6 +271,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
             },
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 7,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
     # This client now requires sign-in for every video
     # It was previously an age-gate workaround for videos that were `playable_in_embed`
@@ -275,19 +285,7 @@ INNERTUBE_CLIENTS = {
         },
         'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 85,
         'REQUIRE_AUTH': True,
-    },
-    # This client now requires sign-in for every video
-    # It may be able to receive pre-merged video+audio 720p/1080p streams
-    'mediaconnect': {
-        'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT': {
-            'client': {
-                'clientName': 'MEDIA_CONNECT_FRONTEND',
-                'clientVersion': '0.1',
-            },
-        },
-        'INNERTUBE_CONTEXT_CLIENT_NAME': 95,
-        'REQUIRE_JS_PLAYER': False,
-        'REQUIRE_AUTH': True,
+        'SUPPORTS_COOKIES': True,
     },
 }
 
@@ -317,6 +315,7 @@ def build_innertube_clients():
         ytcfg.setdefault('REQUIRE_JS_PLAYER', True)
         ytcfg.setdefault('REQUIRE_PO_TOKEN', False)
         ytcfg.setdefault('REQUIRE_AUTH', False)
+        ytcfg.setdefault('SUPPORTS_COOKIES', False)
         ytcfg.setdefault('PLAYER_PARAMS', None)
         ytcfg['INNERTUBE_CONTEXT']['client'].setdefault('hl', 'en')
 
@@ -1357,6 +1356,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
     }
     _SUBTITLE_FORMATS = ('json3', 'srv1', 'srv2', 'srv3', 'ttml', 'vtt')
     _DEFAULT_CLIENTS = ('ios', 'mweb')
+    _DEFAULT_AUTHED_CLIENTS = ('web_creator', 'mweb')
 
     _GEO_BYPASS = False
 
@@ -3823,12 +3823,13 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
     def _get_requested_clients(self, url, smuggled_data):
         requested_clients = []
         excluded_clients = []
+        default_clients = self._DEFAULT_AUTHED_CLIENTS if self.is_authenticated else self._DEFAULT_CLIENTS
         allowed_clients = sorted(
             (client for client in INNERTUBE_CLIENTS if client[:1] != '_'),
             key=lambda client: INNERTUBE_CLIENTS[client]['priority'], reverse=True)
         for client in self._configuration_arg('player_client'):
             if client == 'default':
-                requested_clients.extend(self._DEFAULT_CLIENTS)
+                requested_clients.extend(default_clients)
             elif client == 'all':
                 requested_clients.extend(allowed_clients)
             elif client.startswith('-'):
@@ -3838,7 +3839,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
             else:
                 requested_clients.append(client)
         if not requested_clients:
-            requested_clients.extend(self._DEFAULT_CLIENTS)
+            requested_clients.extend(default_clients)
         for excluded_client in excluded_clients:
             if excluded_client in requested_clients:
                 requested_clients.remove(excluded_client)
@@ -3850,9 +3851,18 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
                 _, base_client, variant = _split_innertube_client(requested_client)
                 music_client = f'{base_client}_music' if base_client != 'mweb' else 'web_music'
                 if variant != 'music' and music_client in INNERTUBE_CLIENTS:
-                    if not INNERTUBE_CLIENTS[music_client]['REQUIRE_AUTH'] or self.is_authenticated:
+                    client_info = INNERTUBE_CLIENTS[music_client]
+                    if not client_info['REQUIRE_AUTH'] or (self.is_authenticated and client_info['SUPPORTS_COOKIES']):
                         requested_clients.append(music_client)
 
+        if self.is_authenticated:
+            unsupported_clients = [
+                client for client in requested_clients if not INNERTUBE_CLIENTS[client]['SUPPORTS_COOKIES']
+            ]
+            for client in unsupported_clients:
+                self.report_warning(f'Skipping client "{client}" since it does not support cookies', only_once=True)
+                requested_clients.remove(client)
+
         return orderedSet(requested_clients)
 
     def _invalid_player_response(self, pr, video_id):
@@ -3958,6 +3968,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
                 else:
                     prs.append(pr)
 
+            ''' This code is pointless while web_creator is in _DEFAULT_AUTHED_CLIENTS
             # EU countries require age-verification for accounts to access age-restricted videos
             # If account is not age-verified, _is_agegated() will be truthy for non-embedded clients
             if self.is_authenticated and self._is_agegated(pr):
@@ -3965,9 +3976,10 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
                     f'{video_id}: This video is age-restricted and YouTube is requiring '
                     'account age-verification; some formats may be missing', only_once=True)
                 # web_creator can work around the age-verification requirement
-                # android_vr and mediaconnect may also be able to work around age-verification
+                # android_vr may also be able to work around age-verification
                 # tv_embedded may(?) still work around age-verification if the video is embeddable
                 append_client('web_creator')
+            '''
 
         prs.extend(deprioritized_prs)