Exporting Youtube videos?

[yendi]

Okay, I know there are a zillion tools for pulling the audio content out of a Youtube video into an MP3 file. But are there any good, reliable tools for pulling down the audio and video? I've found some commercial ones, but I'm looking for a freebie, preferably web-based, although an app would do. I know that VLC is supposed to do it, but I can't get it to work for the life of me.

ETA: Format doesn't matter (although .flv or .avi are the ones I'd prefer).

(And yes, this is actually work-related. Long story.)

Comments

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

I use DVDVideoSoft:

http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/

It downloads them as .flv files.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

I use Fast Video Download 3.1.1 - it's a Firefox extension/add-on that will download any embedded media to a .flv or .mp4 file.

[rowancat.livejournal.com]

The standard most popular add-on for Firefox that pulls down *all* the variations
of Youtube flash, both flv and mp4, your choice in format and size, stereo/mono as well as most other video sites (except heavily protected sites that split the video into data and control streams like cbs.com)
is Download Helper.

I've used it for years... you simply click and pick dfrom a dropdown bar.

And it pulls down all other formats, mpg, avi, wmv, on2vp6, h263 and 4, divx, etc,etc... works flawlessly and is constantly updating to really helpful features, not bloatware.

[sindrian.livejournal.com]

What I do is open Safari's activity window, and find the bit of the page that's sized in MB (much easier if the video is the only tab/window open), and double-click it to download. I then use iSquint (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19769/isquint) to convert it to whatever format I'd like. It looks like there are much easier solutions though.

[asim.livejournal.com]

For a fully web-based approach, I'd use --- and have used -- Zamzar (http://zamzar.com/), at least for low-volume conversions (a few a day). The browser plugin approaches are more flexible and faster, but also mean you're doing the conversion work on your machine if you want to get it out of FLV. The Zamzar service will email a link to the final product, but you have to wait awhile, usually >15 min. for the free service. They also will convert almost any bloody thing.

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

Well, a way to grab the swf file, for futher processing:

http://elfs.livejournal.com/1329805.html

[poobah103.livejournal.com]

I use DownloadHelper. It puts a watermark in the upper left corner unless you buy the full version, but otherwise it's totally free. And the watermark is pretty unobtrusive, so it doesn't wind up very distracting.

[rowancat.livejournal.com]

Are you talking about the FireFox add-on Download Helper?
My latest version is 4.8.1
It has always been freeware with no paid version and i have never
seen a watermark in over 1000 dl'd videos.

Oh, ok, just checked, Download Helper's full name which they only use
at the website is Video Download Helper.

http://www.downloadhelper.net/index.php

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Dirpy bookmarklet, it allows you to grab video and audio in multiple formats, plus it works in chrome.

[bardiphouka.livejournal.com]

Dirpy alas has closed their website

[fings.livejournal.com]

If you're a command-line sort of guy, I like youtube-dl. It's a python script. http://bitbucket.org/rg3/youtube-dl/src

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I use Keepvid.

It's a script (I think it's just on keepvid.com) that you save as a bookmark. Lets you grab the file in a number of formats and resolution levels.

It grabs audio and video.

Works good with multiple tabs ~ it's more of a pain (in other words, not much of one) if you want to browse other stuff from the same window, as the video will replay when you go back to that window.

I use it in Safari.

[luis-mw.livejournal.com]

I have RealPlayer installed (basic, free version), and on most YouTube videos, when I hover over the screen while it is playing, a "DOwnload Video" option appears from RealPlayer above the picture. It seems to work well, but just downloads whatever format the video was in originally.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

MP3, I don't know about. But I have a downloader that I can then use to convert the videos to various formats after download...

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

I've been using Freecorder which automatically downloads almost every video and then I just go through a list of the downloads to see what to keep.

http://applian.com/freecorder4/support/