5 Easy Ways to Download YouTube Videos To Your Computer

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3dtv

Online video streaming has been the rage for some time now – and we can view countless videos through sites like YouTube and Metacafe – but what happens if you find a video you really like and would like to store it for offline viewing or to watch it on a mobile device?  Unfortunately, we are limited only to streaming as there is no option to download the videos on YouTube. Well, fret not as we have at our disposal easy-to-use tools that make downloading such videos possible.

1.  How to Download Videos with One Click

keepvid

KeepVid.com is a web-based video downloader. Perfect for those who are on the go or do not wish to install additional applications on their computer, KeepVid oozes simplicity and idiot-proof video downloading. To download YouTube videos, simply copy the URL of the YouTube video page you wish to download, and paste it in the Keepvid Textbox. A link will then appear which allows you to save the .flv video file to your computer! As an added bonus, KeepVid can also download videos from several other video streaming services such as Metacafe.  It also comes with a bookmarklet so you can download any video you’re watching with one click.

2. How to Download Videos Directly from the URL Box

kissyoutube

Another funky and ingenious method to download videos from YouTube is to add a kiss to the video you wish to download, literally! How would you do that? Simple, just add the word ‘kiss’ in front of the ‘youtube’ word in the URL and press enter. You will then be brought to the download page with a link to the .flv video. For example, say we want to download this Super Bowl video. The original URL would be “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jxyYwrKIKQ”. Now just add a kiss, and make it “http://www.kissyoutube.com/watch?v=9jxyYwrKIKQ” for the download. Simple as that! Java is required for this website to work, though.

3. How to Convert .flv Videos On The Fly

vixy

Now this is a tool you won’t want to miss! Vixy.net is both a web-based YouTube video downloader and converter! While many popular media players such as Windows Media Player and Quicktime aren’t capable of playing back .flv extensions (which YouTube videos are streamed in), Vixy.net solves those problems by offering a free conversion service along with any download. After entering the URL of the desired video, just choose the file type you wish to convert into (there is AVI, 3GP, and MOV, among others). This is a truly convenient way of making YouTube videos more accessible to other media players.

4. Where to Find YouTube Download Software

youtube

For those who fancy having gadgets and utilities lying around their computer desktops, YouTube Downloader is the perfect tool! As a free download from Download.com, this nifty little program can easily download YouTube videos – just copy and paste the video URL and press the button! Its additional feature includes a built-in video converter to convert downloaded .flv files into other more convenient formats.

5. Where to Find an Awesome Firefox Plugin to Download Videos

firefox

Firefox fans rejoice! Now there is a quick and convenient way to extract your favorite YouTube videos using this add-on. Besides YouTube, this plug-in supports other video streaming sites including Metacafe, Google Videos and Dailymotion, among others. Just surf like normal and when DownloadHelper detects a downloadable object, its icon will animate, allowing you to download the streaming video.

Would you download a youtube video?  Tell us in the comments!

This guest post was written by Chan HH.  If you’d like to write for Friedbeef’s Tech, just drop me a line.

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18 Comments For This Post

  1. YouTuber Says:
    February 11th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    The best option would be to use the easy to use firefox plugin, the addon creates two buttons near the video for downloading in HD or Mp4 quality :

    http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10137

  2. Praveen Rajan (Marketingly.com) Says:
    February 11th, 2009 at 11:08 pm

    Nice structured post =)

    A better alternative to Kiss Youtube is to use PwnYoutube.com

    It’s the simplest method I’ve found so far that does not require any additional software. It doesn’t require Java (which is clunky sometimes), and gives you two options: FLV & MP4.

    Just add “pwn” in front of youtube.com in the address bar.

  3. Gadgetmo Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 3:38 am

    even better… kickyoutube.com – it lets you download in loads of formats

  4. James Yeang Says:
    February 13th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Thanks YouTuber, Praveen and Gadgetmo: Useful insights indeed!

  5. haiyeer Says:
    February 23rd, 2009 at 10:11 am

    Nidesoft YouTube Video Converter is the best YouTube Converter software which helps you to download YouTube video from YouTube and convert YouTube video to many other formats: MP4, AVI, MPEG, MP3, WMV,etc.
    With Nidesoft YouTube Video Converter, you could download YouTube and convert YouTube easily, you need only to input the URL of the YouTube and all the task will be finished in one step.
    Nidesoft YouTube Video Converter could convert YouTube to many PMP video, it could work as:
    Youtube to iPod,
    Youtube to AVI,
    FLV to MPEG,
    FLV to MP3,
    FLV to WMV,
    etc.

  6. Download youtube Says:
    March 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm

    nice web log, wonderfull blog.

  7. John Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    Actually i was wondering over for a long time to know how to save my favorite videos from Youtube. Now am relieved. I will start to enjoy my downloads. Thanks mate. Anticipating such riddle solving tips!

  8. basal Says:
    April 1st, 2009 at 5:17 am

    I have tried different methods to download videos from youtube. I believe keepv is the best methods so far. You can download it here with no need to go to their website :

    http://efiles.org/index.php/files/get/nASHvqWnUE/keepvflashconvertersetup.zip

  9. sabnext Says:
    April 13th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    How to download video from YouTube Easy?
    No How. You already have it! Just read this article “Video in Your Cache” at
    http://realwindfall.blogspot.com/2009/01/video-in-your-cache-or-how-to-download.html

    No software need. Free of charge!
    Relax and enjoy!
    By this way you may download ANY video from ANY video service!

  10. Balu Says:
    May 22nd, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    no need any third party softwares to save or download youtube or metacafe or Google videos just try this new method.

    http://electromice.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-savedownload-youtube-and.html

  11. jessy Says:
    July 18th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    useful article,
    if you have downloaded a lot of vids from Utube with this 5 methods, Maybe you need this little tool to help you convert these youtube video (FLV) to ipod,iphone,psp,blackberry,Xbox,zune,Cretive zen etc.
    http://www.flash-on-tv.com/flv-converter.html#135

    Absolute safety, no virus,trojan !!!

  12. Save Youtube videos Says:
    October 6th, 2009 at 12:23 am

    Thank you so much! This is great. By the way I found a website to Download YouTube Videos

  13. Hikari Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 6:58 am

    does anyone know if any of these leave viruses?

  14. James Yeang Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    @Hikari : Those listed in my post should be fine :)

  15. Hikari Says:
    October 26th, 2009 at 6:16 am

    @james-ok thank u :D

  16. Salvio Says:
    November 30th, 2009 at 10:19 am

    A good way to try for convert youtube videos in many formats or in sound format is with this 2 sites

    http://www.freefileconvert.com and
    http://www.convertvideotoaudio.com

    They are fast and easy to use.

  17. VidRip Says:
    December 27th, 2009 at 10:19 am

    Excellent article, you can use http://www.VidRip.co.uk to download and save YouTube videos in HD including 1080p and 720p quality.

    Keep up the good writing!

  18. mighty mouse Says:
    January 30th, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    If you’re using safari, you cand o the following to download a youtube video:

    1. Open the “activity” window (shows all the active resources used to make up the current web page)
    2. Find the clip in the list. It is usually the the biggest file size. Select it.
    3. Copy it to the clipboard.
    4. Open the download window.
    5. Paste it.

    Voila it begins a download of the file to your compy.
    You can play any video with VLC player: http://www.videolan.org/

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