diff --git a/backend/app.js b/backend/app.js
index dda7932..3129476 100644
--- a/backend/app.js
+++ b/backend/app.js
@@ -593,6 +593,8 @@ function loadConfigValues() {
         };
     }
 
+    // empty url defaults to default URL
+    if (!url || url === '') url = 'http://example.com'
     url_domain = new URL(url);
 
     let logger_level = config_api.getConfigItem('ytdl_logger_level');