I’d like to be able to save my favorite videos from YouTube on to my hard drive so I can watch them when I’m not online, if that’s possible. Can you help?
Answer
251
8-9-11
Mr FF says:
Save the youtubes
So you’re looking to save a video from YouTube to your computer, huh? Well, whether you just want to have Nyan Cat available to you on a permanent basis, think you’re the next Dayjob Orchestra and want to make redubbed episodes of Star Trek, or just need the audio from a video for a project, there are some tools out there that can help you download your fave YouTube vids. Best of all, the ones I’m recommending here are free.
Push button, receive video
keepvid.com: This one’s about as simple as it gets, the hardest thing to do is choose which format you want to download in. Just copy the URL of the YouTube video you want to save, paste it in the box at the top of the page, and click “Download.” You’ve got your choice of FLV, MP4, WebM, and 3GP for video formats and MP3 for audio only. If you’re not sure which video format to pick, go with MP4. Chances are something on your computer can play it correctly, like Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, etc.
savetube.com: Almost identical to keepvid, this YouTube saving site is also copy/paste simple. The only reason it gets bumped to second on the recommended list is because it doesn’t offer as many video format options, and it’s a separate button to create an MP3 audio file — so if you need both, there’s one more step. Other than that? Same stuff.
The bottom line
I tested both of these with Chrome, Firefox and even Internet Explorer, and the tools worked with all three. Do make sure you’re running the latest version of Java. If you’re not sure if you are, don’t worry — it will prompt you to upgrade if you aren’t.
I’m not going to go on a long diatribe about copyrighted materials here, except to quote Wheaton’s Law and say “don’t be a dick.” Don’t download something, then upload it and claim it’s your own. If you download something and modify it and upload it, give credit to the original poster. Be nice.
And what the heck do you need Nyan Cat saved on your computer for, anyway?
Save the youtubes
So you’re looking to save a video from YouTube to your computer, huh? Well, whether you just want to have Nyan Cat available to you on a permanent basis, think you’re the next Dayjob Orchestra and want to make redubbed episodes of Star Trek, or just need the audio from a video for a project, there are some tools out there that can help you download your fave YouTube vids. Best of all, the ones I’m recommending here are free.
Push button, receive video
keepvid.com: This one’s about as simple as it gets, the hardest thing to do is choose which format you want to download in. Just copy the URL of the YouTube video you want to save, paste it in the box at the top of the page, and click “Download.” You’ve got your choice of FLV, MP4, WebM, and 3GP for video formats and MP3 for audio only. If you’re not sure which video format to pick, go with MP4. Chances are something on your computer can play it correctly, like Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, etc.
savetube.com: Almost identical to keepvid, this YouTube saving site is also copy/paste simple. The only reason it gets bumped to second on the recommended list is because it doesn’t offer as many video format options, and it’s a separate button to create an MP3 audio file — so if you need both, there’s one more step. Other than that? Same stuff.
The bottom line
I tested both of these with Chrome, Firefox and even Internet Explorer, and the tools worked with all three. Do make sure you’re running the latest version of Java. If you’re not sure if you are, don’t worry — it will prompt you to upgrade if you aren’t.
I’m not going to go on a long diatribe about copyrighted materials here, except to quote Wheaton’s Law and say “don’t be a dick.” Don’t download something, then upload it and claim it’s your own. If you download something and modify it and upload it, give credit to the original poster. Be nice.
And what the heck do you need Nyan Cat saved on your computer for, anyway?
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