How To Download YouTube Videos

Whether you're concerned that your favorite videos will be removed from the site or you simply want to watch your favorite YouTube videos any time you want, you have probably come to the conclusion that you'd like a way to save YouTube videos to your hard drive. With a little bit of searching you can do just that, but there are a few things you should know just getting started.

Unlike an image, you've noticed that you can't just right click and save the videos to your hard drive. There are many services that you can use to download YouTube videos, the trick is just picking the right one. When finding a way to download YouTube videos, remember though that there is more than just getting them on your computer. YouTube videos are usually encoded in .flv format, something that your computer can't read. Therefore, one thing that you need to find is not only something that can put the video onto your hard drive, but something to “translate” it to a readable format as well.

Depending on your browser, there might be a few things you can do to download the video in question. Those using the Safari browser are usually able use the Windows, Activities feature to locate and download the .flv files that are currently playing and download them.

The best way web-based way to get YouTube videos is usually to find a website that will allow you to both download the video and then convert it. The way that most sites of this sort work is that they will offer you a space to enter the URL of the video that you want to download and ask where you want to put the downloaded video. Several of the sites in question, like Vixy, will also covert the file to .avi, .mov, or mp4 formats. Web-based applications are the most common way to download YouTube videos.

You can also find some Windows applications that will do the same thing. Orbit Downloader and TubeSucker are both programs that you can download onto your Windows PC that will allow you to do the same thing. If you are on a Mac, GetTube functions in essentially the same way.

If you prefer to do everything from your browser, look for the plugins like Vidtaker that will allow you to not only download videos from YouTube but from other streaming websites as well. Vidtaker will also convert the video to the viewable DivX .avi format.

When you are trying to preserve your favorite YouTube video, just download it directly to your computer. There are many ways to do this, so grab your favorite views before they disappear!

Share & EnjoyThese icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.: