How-To: Download FLV videos from YouTube [Google Video]
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Hat tip to Eazy for requesting a quick tutorial on snagging videos directly from YouTube.
For the uninitiated, YouTube is the Flickr of online video sharing. If you haven’t had a chance to check the service, do so right now. As requested, the following tutorial will assist in download FLV video files from the YouTube video sharing service. The following tutorial assumes that you currently have the Firefox browser, Greasemonkey extension, and VLC media player installed.
- In order to keep the process as simple as possible, we’re going to let the Greasemonkey extension do the dirty work. If you have not yet installed the Greasemonkey extension, do so now Firefox 1.5 users must download 0.6.4. You’ll need to install the following Greasemonkey userscript in order to continue: YouTube To Me. You will also find a handy userscript for download videos directly from Google Video.
- Navigate to YouTube.com and locate a video. For this particular tutorial, I am going to download “the Story about Suzuki and the dog“.
- Once the page has loaded, you should see a red bar towards the top of the page spanning the full width of the browser. In the center of this bar are the words ‘”Save as” to download Flash video’. Right-click on the link and select “Save as…” from the contextual menu.
- In the save file prompt, you will notice that the file is titled get_video.php. Title the video accordingly and change the extension from PHP to FLV [essential that step]. Select ‘Save’ and the Flash video file will be downloaded to your desktop.
- While dedicated FLV video players are available, the VLC media player is capable of FLV playback.
The Google Video Getter script provides a similar ‘Save as’ dialogue for downloading Flash videos directly off of Google Video(s).
For additional story tips or requests, feel free to drop a line at tips@uneasysilence.com.
For all of you who want to put these on your iPod video, or just watch them in something other than VLC, here’s a tutorial:
http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t259578.html
[...] How-To: Download FLV videos from YouTube Uses VLC player to save the Flash video files off YouTube.com Keywords: google, hacks, video [...]
[...] Artikel How-To: Download FLV videos from YouTube [Google Video] berisikan tip untuk mengambil video yang ada pada http://youtube.com. Yang diperlukan adalah browser Firefox dan ekstensi GreaseMonkey (beserta Javascript-nya). [...]
The old script doesn’t work anymore. It seems the script cuts out the www, w/c is needed now.
what is w/c?
thanks…it really work for me…
none of this is working. greasemonkey will not install because “greasemonkey only works on firefox 1.0.” yet, only firefox 1.5 is available.
i’m not sure what the problem is. are you using firefox 1.0?
[...] Related throwback post titled: How-To: Download FLV videos from YouTube [Google Video]. [...]
Damn dis is nice!
no, i cannot download 1.0, only 1.5. where can i find 1.0?
the rules of the game have to be changed now that Greasemonkeying Google is obsolete. They have their own .GVI file format, and their vids only play in the new Google video player.
Tip: think before you buy; look for free videos online before you put down money for the same videos on Google.
the rules of the game have to be changed now that Greasemonkeying Google is obsolete. They have their own .GVI file format, and their vids only play in the new Google video player.
Tip: think before you buy; look for free videos online before you put down money for the same videos on Google
i wrote a perl/tk script about a month ago that lets you automatically browse and download and convert files automatically to native window media player formats (msmpeg4v2) and lets you use two-pass encoding (small size/good quality). It uses mencoder (from mplayer) to encode.oh yes, it also displays the preview pictures. it weighs in at 4.15mb without the 7.58mb mencoder.exe. i packaged it into a binary windows executable. i’ll put it up on a filehosting service if anyone is interested. also, i know there are youtube apis out but i haven’t really taken the time to look into it since im learning perl. and i think there may be a way to download the google videos regardless of what they say. i reason that since no new codecs were needed to watch the videos, the format could probably be decoded. i’ll do some packet sniffing to determine the file locations when i get the time.
i’ll also he code for the perl\tk if anyones interested
edit: *release the code if anyone’s interested
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2N0GX0PA
Can anyone know how to download from http://www.freevideoblog.com. Thanks, much appreciated
Wrong URL this is the right one
http://video.freevideoblog.com/
does anyone know how to transfer files to movie clips?
http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
thats all youll ever need people ;)
I appreciate everyone having helped out, without these posts i woulda been lost and never stumbled upon this link, enjoy
[...] After that, visit this article on UNEASYsilence, it shows you how to download the video. In short, it adds a red bar at the top when you’re watching the video, right-click it and ’save-as’ and change the filename to something.FLV file. It’s important to remember the FLV part. Open in VLC and it will play. [...]
I dont know how to change the extension from php to flv
yeah, same here. it will download and everything but will not play because WMP won’t recognize it. It always saves as a PHP file or just “file” with that raw white logo on it. I need to transfer it to movie clip or flv so i can back it up on disc.
renaming the filename extension after downloading isn’t working for you guys?
they just don’t know how to rename extensions
I don’t have any problem renaming the file from .php to .flv before I download it or after I download it. But the quality loss sucks. Is there a way to get a .php file converted to an .flv file without any quality loss? I’ve tried the VLC media player as well as FLV Player and FLV Player-S and the quality is inferior in all of them, so I’m thinking it happens when the file name is changed. Anyone know how to fix this? I haven’t seen anyone else post about this anywhere which seems weird…
renaming the file extension does not cause the flv file to detoriorate (quality wise). the flv files in general leave much room for improvment.
Export flv to iTunes: After expirmenting for about half an hour, did you know that you can export flv videos to iTunes/iPod compatible format only using VLC (no quicktime pro needed!)?
Just “Stream Output” as your familiar with if you’ve downloaded yahoo videos. Check the file box and name you file with a .m4v or .mp4 extension. Click MP4 for encapsulation. Check the video codec and use your codec. I’m a extreme fan of H.264, if you didn’t know that already, so I use that. Finally Check the Audio codec and choose mp4a. I’d tone down the bitrate to something like 128, just cause its not nessisary (i spelled that wrong) to use 192: the quality is already bad. Then click ok and ok. Wait a couple minutes and when done, drag into itunes. Okay, that’s my tip of the night.
Guys,
As of 1/23, the greasemonkey plugin for downloading videos from youtube is not working.
I hope someone creates another plugin for this.
thanks
Works great, Thanks.
Chris
As soon as its downloaded and the file extension has already been changed, the video does not load into VLC. Its just a stationary picture…
Guys its so simple:
http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
get a flv player.
Done.
GG
the script doesent seem to work anymore. when i rightclick save as, it will not allow me to change the file extension. it just says ALL FILES. WHAT GIVES?
to download videos off google in mp4 format, select downloads for psp or ipods
ok, so i downloaded firefox and greasemonkey. firefox installed, greasemonkey didn’t. i get a message that says “no default application to open greasemonkey” NOW WHAT?! (I’m using a MAC) does this only work on PCs?
no greasemonkey is a firefox extension. drag the xpi into an open firefox window and it will install.
mikeb, the script still works. i just finished converting about 15 videos off of youtube to avi.
Derek, after i install greasemonkey i went and DL’ed the script for the youtube. when i try to right click save as all it says (type of file) is “all documents” . It will not allow me to change the file type. is there something im doing wrong? Thanks for your help with this.
nevermind bud, i just figured it out. it was all my fault. gotta learn to reeeaadd better!! lol Thanks agian for the update
http://www.fileleecher.com allows you to download directly without any addons.
how can i get my new flv video on to my psp?
Heres a nice site which lets you download from youTube, Google Video, Putfile, iFilm and heaps more!
http://keepvid.com/
Hope this helps!!
Yumi – Download PSP Video 9 (just google it.) It will convert most any file over to play onm your PSP including .FLV
Is there any possible way to get the files to work on Windows Media player or is it only vlc
I’m trying to get some clips for Windows Movie Maker but that looks impossible
This Greasemonkey hack and other hacks don’t work. It isn’t get_video?video_id anymore. :(
Hi! This is amazing but i have a problem, when i select save as, the file doesn’t appear, what can i do???
How come the script doesn’t work anymore. :\ When I try downloading from youtube, the file is always ‘get_video’ and only allows ‘Save as type: All Files’. And when I do, it’s like, 0 bytes.
Man, this blows hardcore. ._. Help pls!
i tried firefox and vdownloader, both dont work anymore. it all packed up from working at 11.00 am today
This sucks! Just when I learn how to download videos to my hard drive it stops working. I’m having the same problems with greasemonkey and vdownloader. Anyone know what’s going on?
youtube must be doing something with the backend architecture. keep posted for a gm script that will most likely be released.
Well until a new script comes up, our best bet is to rely on website downloaders. Here’s been a current favorite of mine.
http://keepvid.com/
Hope that helps for now..
Ahh, I was so close. Encoding failed. What’s the deal?
yeahh.. it worked… but it download really slow.. it took me almost 2 hours to download video.. is there any ways how to increase the speed of dowloading from you tube..??
Friend of mine did a workaround:
http://ztmnews.kernel.pl/mls/youtubetome.user.js
This uses PHP script to get proper v__.youtube.com server where __ is number (I believe from 1 to 300 now). http://ztmnews.kernel.pl/mls/youtube.php
Enjoy.
You can download YouTube video at http://zfreez.com in just 1 click.
The downloaded files will be in .flv format you don’t need to change extension or anything.
windows xp & IE:load the video,copy it from the temporary internet files.
use a converter(ImToo).
set back:the new video is a lot bigger than the original file.
IE: copy video file from temporary interntet files (view by size, videos will be pretty large)… after copying the file to another location on your computer, simply change the extension to .flv
Um..IS this legal?
Scripts for Google Video, YouTube and others: http://1024k.de/bookmarklets/video-bookmarklets.html and http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/4037
why wont mine work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In answer to DS its not legal but is not illegal. it appears like the video is being streamed when u are downloading them so they ave no idea anyone is breaking the law. also alot off the videos are copyrite infringments ie on you tube thewy have complete episodes of southpark, family guy so ur not breaking the law who ever up loaded the videos are q.e.d.
I’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work. I hope someone comes up with a script that will take the (censored) who run YouTube a while to beat. I’m really starting to hate YouTube. Sorry for the rant.
Here’s a sleek-looking site that let’s you download YouTube videos – http://www.YouTubeX.com
its not working for me grease isnt working right when i download it
Here’s some creepy weirdness. I go to YouTube today and only get the message “All your videos belong to us”. At this point it doesn’t matter since YouTube sucks anyway.
worked perfectly for me but i went to red bar at top of http://www.youtube.com,right clicked and saved file as *********.flv . I use firefox and opened it from downloads box under tools in my browser . Bloody rippa , good work fella’s because i really wanted to sang a certain video off there cheers jacko
Since Youtube had changed its formats many hacking system does not work but with this site you can easily download the video of your choice try it (no download of certain softwares required) ;->
me so hungry – you give food to me now
Hey When i change it to .flv and stuff, how do I play it on vlc?
:( anyone?
Meow? I need some help
Videodownloader.net does not work know!
Why?
ok well heres whap happened i can dl the file and all but i cant change the extension to .flv it only has a save as… All Files tab so im not sure what to do riva FLV encoder wont read my file cuz its not FLV
sometimes I get vids with no adress the adress looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/get_video?video_id= ..when I try to save I get an error messege so how can i download those….
how can i change the file type to .flv again? all video files i download are in .htm format. There seemed to be no option for changing the file type when i’m saving.
Meh, I download FLV’s and .SWF’s in Safari all day and night.
I just use the activity monitor.
I then use iSquint to change the format.
i downloaded a file off of youtube how do i convert it to FLV??
i downloaded the video from youtube and it plays how do i save can i change it so i can put it into my ipod? i have a converter but it wont open the file
some google flv file can not be play back from flv player..any advice
HELP!
i followed all of the steps and i saved my file from youtube in the ‘.flv’ format but it didn’t come out at FLV format and the vlc player won’t read it…
what should i do??
get an FLV player
This was so simple, reading the comments of the people above that cannot get it to work makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Follow ALL the instructions listed above this comment section starting with the words “For the uninitiated…” Make sure you have Firefox 1.5.x, get the greasemonkey extension, download and install VLC media player. After you install the greasemonkey extension (click the “now” link), click the You Tube to Me link to install the userscripts. Just click the link and follow the instructions. It’s simple. After all this is done, shut down and restart Firefox. DONE.
Go to a YouTube video and you will see the red bar with the save link. I saved a video as get_video. Then I navigated to the file, changed the name to what I wanted, added the .flv extension. Clicked the file and it played in the VLC Media Player. It took me 5 minutes. It’s not that I am a computer genius. (I am somewhere above intermediate). I just followed the instructions step by step.
Oh, by the way, to change a filename…navigate to the file you saved, right click the file, click rename, type “new filename”.flv, where “new filename” (without the ” “) is the name you want for your video file.
Yes, I realize that one should be able to skip this step by renaming at the time of downloading, but some people where having a problem with that. Therefore, it is possible to just save it as is, then rename it when the download finishes.
Good luck all. I got mine. :-)
anotehr site that is useful for downloading videos is http://clipnabber.com
you can download videos from youtube in flv and you can also download videos from a bunch of the other major ones
So, do I have to download Firefox to be able to get YouTube videos on my iPod.
I’m sorry. That was a stupid question^^^
Here’s another one. I know almost nothing about computers. How do I install the userscript YouTube to me in Greasemonkey?
Hi, nice very nice page..!
Preved krosavcheg! the best sites for you.
Good luck !
Hey well i have managed to get to the point of having the red bar at the top of the page on youtube videos. However when i right click and go into ’save link as’ , i cant put the file type to flv. It is totaly blank and nothing can be entered ! What can I do ?!
i have got the same problem….
the firefox..even the IE doesnt let me rename the extension…to .flv
oops…i found some thing…
check this out..hope it helps..it from the site “http://keepvid.com/faq/”
How do I rename to .flv?
To change to .flv, find your downloaded file and change the file extension from .php to .flv
If there is no extension, then simply add .flv to the filename.
You may need to enable file extensions if you cannot see the .php:
- In any folder on your hard drive go to “Tools” > “Folder Options” > “View” tab then scroll down to “Hide extensions for known file types” and uncheck that box.
Click “OK” to save changes. Now you should see the file extension which you can rename.
I’m having trouble downloading Greasemonkey on my Firefox. When I’m on Firefox, Greasemonkey doesn’t exist! HELP ME PLEASE!!
Those who don’t have Firefox or GreaseMonkey (ie. used Internet Explorer :-
Go to the Temporary Internet Folder (Windows) under
C:\Documents and Settings\—-appropriate username—–\local settings
and search for the get_video….. (file with name starting with this).
Double click on it and it will open up a dialogue box to ask where you
want to download file to. Save the file, and change its extension to flv, eg. videoname.flv
You will then see that the next thing will be the downloading in progress.
After completing the download, use an FLV player or VLC media player to open and run the file.
The above method do not require any scripts. But you need to search for the temporary file in the Windows folder mentioned above.
iT ALL IS PERFECT downloading FLV as far as i’ve been using it!
THANK U, guys!!
Hmmm. I was updating my guitar online lessons and found a link to a video on youtube (never been to youtube before) and couldn’t download the vid. I started looking around and came across the info as to how to get the vid into my files. The first thing I had to do was update Firefox to 2.0. the rest was quite straightforward even for this grade 10 educated 65 year old on meds (not to mention surviving the 70’s).
Be patient, it works
10
Hi! I would REALLY appreciate anyone’s help as I have spent a ridiculous amount of time attempting to get videos onto my iPod. I have already DL’ed Greasemonkey, VLC player, Riva and Videora.
I am supposed to on youtube rightclick at the top of the screen on a red bar (explained in this link that describes saving videos):
[url]http://www.uneasysilence.com/archive/2005/12/4843/[/url]
It will not automatically show “save as” when I right-click the link—it only says save link as…
So I believe the results of this are why it is not letting me encode the file in Riva even when I download it as an .flv file.
I hope someone can make sense of my poorly-described mess! I’m just trying to get my iPod to have a few music videos…and frankly, I’ve had the danged thing since February.
Thank you, muchas gracias, et cetera!
…. I download all my videos from youtube with KeepV.com
i cant seem to run youtube in mozilla firefox
some days ago, i got a web adress which helped me get the link of flv files from youtube.com;but i have forgotten the address.can anyone help me?
downloaded all the steps but the red bar is not showing anywhere
what do i do?