How to download YouTube clips

Ever wonder if there was an easy way to save videos you find on YouTube or Google Video, so that you’ll have them in case they are later removed? There is (of course there is - that’s why it’s so easy for people to repost clips that have been removed. It’s like chopping off a hydra head.)

There’s a quick online guide here.

But below you’ll find all you need:

First, just bookmark the following links (don’t click on them here, just get them into your browser’s bookmarks):

Download Google Video

Download Youtube Video

The next time you are watching a video on Google Video or Youtube, you can click the appropriate bookmark and a window will pop up that will begin downloading the FLV (Flash video) file (you may need to rename the file, and give it a .flv extension.)

There’s another shockingly simple website called KeepVid that saves files for you.

Just paste in the URL of the YouTube (or other) video in the box, and hit download. It creates a “download link” which you can right-click on to save the file to your computer (you might have to rename it first.)

Alternately, there’s a very nice Firefox plug-in that does this for you, and more:
Ook? Video Ook! - Firefox add-on

Another good Firefox extension: VideoDownloader

Or you can use a neat little Greasemonkey script for Firefox (requires Greasemonkey.)

*** Update! My sister discovered another site that lets you simply type the word “kiss” in front of the “youtube” in the url of any YouTube clip and it’ll let you save the file:
e.g. http://www.kissyoutube.com/whateveryourvideoscalled
Just remember to rename the extension to .flv ***

Once you’ve saved the file, you’ll need a media player that can handle FLV files. Here’s a great one - it plays just about all media files that exist (if you want it to):

VLC media player

If you want to convert the .flv files to something more useful, like .avi or .mpg, use the free Riva FLV Encoder.

More on the subject can be found here and here.

Apple users can download an nifty program called, cutely, Tubesock, which both rips the files and converts them.

No breakin’ any copyright, now, y’hear?

Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 04-05-2007 | 11:04 PM
Posted in: Teh Internets