How do I download video from YouTube?

Featured | Mac | Media | Software
September 16, 2008

The question I am asked most when talking tech with other youth workers is, “How do I download video from YouTube?”

In the past I used a Firefox extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3242

Or sites like:
http://keepvid.com/
http://www.kissyoutube.com/ (if you want to use this site all you need to do it type the word “kiss” before the work youtube in ANY youtube video…“kissyoutube”)

These are are fine if you have the right codec (software) to play the video for your group, with these I could only download the videos as a Flash Video file (flv) and that has to many limitation plus you have to rename the file with a .flv extension…wow, I am boring myself…

So I moved on to so web apps like:
http://vixy.net/
http://www.mediaconverter.org/
http://media-convert.com/

These are great because they will take your video file and convert it to almost any video format that you choose that will be compatible with whatever software (MediaShout, ProPresenter, iWorship, etc…) or operating system (Mac, Windows, etc…) you are using.  Some of these sites work with more than YouTube.  However these sites are not always up and running.  There have been several times when I have had to try them all before I found one that worked.  I don’t know if this is a site crash, a poorly written online app, or YouTube blocking these sites.  Kissyoutube recently add a convert feature, when I went to use it the site said, “File Not Found – Page Does Not Exist.”

I have found a small and simple application for my Mac that download and converts YouTube video.  The software is called “GetTube” and you can download it form http://web.mac.com/simonvrel/en/gettube/gettube.html.  This app is very basic.  You can download any YouTube video as an MP4, AVI, MP3 or FLV.  This is perfect for all the video uses I have, weather showing in MediaShout or editing in iMovie.

I am sure there are dozens of other apps we could talk about but this should get you started.  Start with second set of online apps and see how they work for you.  The good thing about those (if they are running) is they will work for you on  Mac or a PC.

9 Comments

  1. philip

    Download youtube videos direct to your PC, iPod, PSP, iPhone, Mobile, Mac..etc for free.. Its fast

    Check http://youtubevideoconvert.com/

    Convert to more popular format like .WMV .MOV, .MP4, .3GP, .MP3 etc

    Reply
  2. Ira Pautova

    Try VideoGet. It downloads from YouTube, GoogleVideo, MetaCafe, MySpase, Photobucket and other 600+ video websites.
    Full List of supported videos websites:
    http://nuclear-coffee.com/php/supported_services.php?id=VideoGet

    VideoGet also providing you with ability to convert each video in most popular formats for more comfortable video playback. VideoGet supports AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, WMV, FLV, MP4, 3GP, MP3 file formats, so you will be able not only to view it, but also put it into your iPod, mobile phone or any other portable device. One-click-download-convert. Plugins for Internet Explorer and Mozilla FireFox browser

    http://nuclear-coffee.com/VideoGet

    Reply
  3. nico

    Hi Johnny Brower,

    I was using tubesock 1.0 for my mac 10.3.9 for two months, worked perfectly, it was the $15 version, well worth the price. However, one week ago, suddenly, when trying to download a youtube video, a small window appears saying download failed, file not exist. I have emailed and called stinkbot many times, never an answer. Do you have any idea why this happens? I have even tried to re-download tubesock but the same problem exists. Please let me know if you have any ideas about this as I would deeply appreciate it!

    Thank you,
    Nico

    Reply
  4. brandon

    No idea…try gettube, it is free.

    Reply

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