I've always wanted to save YouTube videos to my computer. There are lots of guides out there for this. But since the guys over at YouTube keep changing their codes and stuff like that, its kind of tough to keep updating the code to save the file.
YouTubeX is very good. But when using it to download the file, one cant find out the size of the file. But people with a fast internet connection neednt bother. But since most us (including me) have an average internet connection, it doesnt work out very well.
So, after some snooping around, I came up with a way to save the videos.
Here is a step by step method :-
STEP 1 - Download the latest version of Mozilla Firefox from here and install it.
STEP 2 - Go to YouTube and find and a good video to watch.
STEP 3 - Watch the complete video until the screen asking you to replay/share the video is shown.
STEP 4 - Navigate to the Firefox Cache.
By Default it is X:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profilename]\Cache
Where X:/ is the drive where Windows is installed. Its usually C:/.
The Application data is a hidden folder by default. You will need to enable viewing of hidden folders under Tools>Folder Options>View.
The [username] is the one which you use to log in your Windows Account.
The [profilename] is usually a random figure consisting of numbers and letters.
The Cache folder contains lots of files. The name of the files are random alphanumeric strings. Arrange the icons by File Size and View by Icons.
STEP 5 - Look for the biggest file size because it is usually the biggest file. Copy the files which are more than 1 MB to an external folder. Video files are very rarely less than 1 MB.
STEP 6 - Rename all the files to video.flv, video1.flv and so on....
STEP 7 - Download FLV Player from here and install it. Check 'Associate with .FLV files' during the installation.
STEP 8 - Now try playing the files we had renamed in 'STEP 6'. Some of the files wont play. They would be other misc. files. One of them is bound to play. There you go! You have successfully saved a YouTube video to your computer! :D
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