Probably, there is very small percentage of people who are using the Internet, but have never heard/used the video service in Google ownership – YouTube. Firstly, on YouTube you could find video clips (music spots and similar) of all different “qualities“ and resolutions. Last year, in November YouTube has allowed uploading of 720p video clips. Videos with lower resolution (which was only supported) you could easily download with Javascipt code in the Bookmark folder of your browser (I am using Firefox). With HD video that’s doesn’t work anymore, but I have found a matching code for the download of HD video, also.
Instead, you download video clips (from YouTube) or from other unnamed websites which are usually very slow and not secure, downloading some spyware programs and similar onto your computer. This “problem“ of downloading videos can easily be solved with Javascript code in your Bookmarks folder (checked only with Mozilla Firefox). When you find your favourite video clip, simply click on your Bookmark and after one second you have a Download link directly from YouTube, and in few seconds you have the video clip downloaded on your own local computer in .mp4 format.
How to get it work? Simply right click on Bookmark toolbar – New bookmark or Bookmarks – Organize Bookmarks… – New Bookmark.
Under Name: write something like “Download YouTube“ (for HD type “Download YouTube HD“). Under Location: type in following Javascript code.
Regular video
For regular (”non-HD“ content), you use it when you want download regular video clips in non-HD resolution.
javascript:if%20(document.getElementById('download-youtube-video')==null%20&&%20!!(document.location.href.match(/http:\/\/[a-zA-Z\.]*youtube\.com\/watch/)))%20{var%20yt_mp4_path='http://www.youtube.com/get_video?fmt=18&video_id='+swfArgs['video_id']+'&t='+swfArgs['t'];%20var%20div_embed=document.getElementById('watch-embed-div');div_embed.innerHTML=div_embed.innerHTML+'<br%20/>%20<span%20id=\'download-youtube-video\'><a%20href=\''+yt_mp4_path+'\'>Download%20as%20MP4</a>%20'+%20%20((navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Safari')!=-1)?'(control-click%20and%20select%20<i>Download%20linked%20file%20as</i>)':('(right-click%20and%20select%20<i>Save%20'+%20(navigator.appName=='Microsoft%20Internet%20Explorer'?'target':'link')%20+'%20as)</i>'))+'</span>';}void(0);
HD (High-Definition) video
For HD (720p) video, you use it when you want download HD video clips from YouTube.
javascript:if%20(document.getElementById('download-youtube-video')==null%20&&%20!!(document.location.href.match(/http:%5C/%5C/%5Ba-zA-Z%5C.%5D*youtube%5C.com%5C/watch/)))%20%7Bvar%20yt_mp4_path='http://www.youtube.com/get_video?fmt=22&video_id='+swfArgs%5B'video_id'%5D+'&t='+swfArgs%5B't'%5D;%20var%20div_embed=document.getElementById('watch-embed-div');div_embed.innerHTML=div_embed.innerHTML+'%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cspan%20id=%5C'download-youtube-video%5C'%3E%3Ca%20href=%5C''+yt_mp4_path+'%5C'%3EDownload%20as%20720p%20HD%20MP4%3C/a%3E%20'+%20%20((navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Safari')!=-1)?'(control-click%20and%20select%20%3Ci%3EDownload%20linked%20file%20as%3C/i%3E)':('(right-click%20and%20select%20%3Ci%3ESave%20'+%20(navigator.appName=='Microsoft%20Internet%20Explorer'?'target':'link')%20+'%20as)%3C/i%3E'))+'%3C/span%3E';%7Dvoid(0);
All you now need do is choose your favourite video clip on YouTube portal and click on adequate Bookmark (for regular or HD video). If it’s normal/regular/non-HD video it looks like this (after click on preliminary created Bookmark):
And if it’s HD video it looks like this one…
You need to right click on the newly created link and choose Save Links As…. Then you need to type in name of your file/video clip and inevitably put the extension at the end “.mp4“ (of course, without the quotation marks). Also, under Save as Type choose All Files. Click on Save and your video will be shortly downloaded.
On your computer, you can run it with some of players – VLC Player, Media Player Classic (MPC) and similar. If you want convert it to some other format, install a program like Xilisoft Video Converter (Standard/Platinum/Pro).