How do I download or save a YouTube video to my computer?
Question:
How do I download or save a YouTube video to my computer?
Answer:
YouTube has been designed to only allow users to watch and view videos on their website. Many users want to save their favorite videos to their computer so they can watch them without being connected to the Internet and/or so they can watch them on other devices. Below are the steps required for downloading and watching YouTube videos on your computer for free.
Getting the YouTube file to your computer
Today there are several online websites that allow you to enter the URL of the video you wish to save to your computer, and quickly get a link to download the file. Below is a short list of some of the more popular free websites.
http://keepvid.com/
http://www.videospider.info/
http://www.youtubex.com/
http://videodownloader.net
Below is a brief description of how to do this.
Go to the YouTube video page and copy the URL of the video you wish to save. For example, below is a URL to a video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ymHMgFAps
Once this address has been copied, visit one of the above pages and paste that URL into the text field, then hit the submit or download button.
If done properly, the page should open a new window or display a link that can be clicked to start the download of the video file. Click that link and save the file.
As many of the pages state, you'll have to save the file with a name and an extension that ends with .flv. If you did not save the file with .flv at the end you can right-click the file after it's been downloaded and rename the file so it ends with .flv.
Watching the YouTube video on your computer
Once the .flv file has been downloaded to your computer, you'll need a player that supports .flv files. Below are a few suggestions.
FLV Player
http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/flv-player/
VLC media player
http://www.videolan.org/
Windows Media Player
Microsoft Windows users also have the ability of playing FLV files in Windows Media player with the right codec. Downloading and installing the CCCP codec will install this codec, as well as many other codecs you'll likely need in the future.
Converting the YouTube video to a different movie format
There are dozens of different software programs and online services available that will allow you to convert FLV files into another format. Below is a short listing of some of the free services and products we recommend.
Media Convert - An excellent online service that can convert FLV files into dozens of other formats.
http://www.media-convert.com/
Vixy - Another great online service that allows you to download and save YouTube video files to another format.
http://vixy.net/
Additional information:
- See our YouTube dictionary definition for additional information and related links about this term.
