Download YouTube Videos as MP4 for Greasemonkey

Script Summary: A cross-browser script that adds a button to download YouTube videos as MP4 and FLV files. This script downloads the videos directly from YouTube and it integrates with YouTube's interface.

Version: 1.3.8

License: MIT License

What's new: removed Cosmic Panda support and added better validation for video URLs. More in the changelog.

The script works in:

Firefox (install Greasemonkey or Scriptish first)
Google Chrome (no plug-in required, just click "Install". You can also use the Tampermonkey extension)
Opera (no plug-in required, save the script to the User JavaScript folder)
Safari (install GreaseKit first)
Internet Explorer (install IE7Pro, download the script, change the extension to .ieuser.js, copy the file to c:\program files\iepro\userscript and enable the script in IE7Pro's settings dialog)

Here are the formats you can download using this script (Wikipedia has the full list):

MP4 360p (640x360) - all videos are available in this format. Use it if you want to play videos on a mobile phone (iPhone, Android) or to save space.
MP4 720p (1280x720) - HD format, available for an increasing number of videos. Use this format if you want to play videos on a tablet (iPad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab) or a laptop.
MP4 1080p (1920x1080) - Full HD format, available for less videos than MP4 720p. Use this format to watch videos on a HD TV or a high resolution monitor.
MP4 4K (up to 4096p) - HD format, available for a few videos.
the highest-quality FLV version available: FLV 240p (320x240), FLV 360p (320x240, 400x226, 640x360) or FLV 480p (640x480, 854x480). Even if they have a different extension, .flv videos use the H.264 codec, just like .mp4 videos.

After downloading videos, you can play them using free applications like:

VLC (Windows, Mac, Linux / plays both MP4 and FLV videos) - recommended video player
Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 7 (plays only MP4 videos)
iTunes and QuickTime Player (Windows, Mac / play only MP4 videos)
video players for mobile devices (for example, MP4 360p videos can be watched on an iPhone, iPod Touch and on most Android phones, while MP4 720p videos can be watched on an iPad)

Automatic updates: Scriptish and Greasemonkey for Firefox support automatic updating. Here are the instructions for Greasemonkey.

Related extensions: If you use Firefox, you can also install an extension based on this script. There's also an extension for Opera.

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