YouTube Video Download
— Last update Jul 24, 2010 — Installed 132,078 times.Scans the YouTube page for all download formats, from iPod compatible MP4s to high definition 1080p. Compatible with Greasemonkey, Opera, Chrome and more. Runs entirely on the YouTube page without using any external sites. Also, WebM support.
Version: 2.3.6
License: MIT License
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| YouTube change again | 10 |
| Русифицированный вариант ск... | 2 |
| Does this script support 4K? | 2 |
this script has 40 topics, 180 posts
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this script has 53 reviews
UI update, updated 17-8-10
Version 3.0.0 of this script is going to feature major improvements in both the backend and the user interface. Please visit this thread and tell me what you think.
How to use
To download, go to the video page and open the new Download menu (next to "<Embed>"). A list of formats is displayed, sorted from best to worst quality. To save a format, simply click on it or right-click and choose "Save Link As...". If in doubt about what format to download, choose the one on the top of the list.
To play the downloaded video (if your computer doesn't understand Flash Video files or MP4s), download VLC media player or SMPlayer. If you prefer to play the video in Windows Media Player, try the Combined Community Codec Pack. FLV playback on Mac OS X can be achieved by installing Perian for QuickTime. To play the new WebM videos, check out the project homepage, this is for advanced users only.
Check the FAQ section for extra tips and make sure you update regularly to use the latest features. If you have any problems with the script, tell me about it. Most problems since version 2.0 have been glitches due to YouTube updates which are easily fixed in a couple of days with a few lines of code.
A screenshot of the script in action, showing all available download formats. (Version 2.3.1)
How to convert to MP3/AAC/WAV etc. (beta)
Many people have requested an MP3 download feature to be added to the script. Sadly, the only way for a userscript to do this is to contact external sites, since YouTube itself doesn't offer MP3 downloads. Another way to get the audio is to download the video and split the audio manually. Instructions are below:
1. Download "ToMP3" (link fixed), a piece of Windows software based on FFMPEG which can convert any multimedia file to a variety of audio formats. (Although I am pretty sure ToMP3 does not contain any viruses or malware, it is wise to run a virus scan on every piece of software you download from the internet.)
2. Run ToMP3, select the video you want to convert and click "Open". The window will disappear while ToMP3 scans the video.
3. When the save dialog appears, choose a format and click "Save". For YouTube videos, you will get the best quality if you save as an AAC (.m4a), a FLAC or a WAV. The iPod compatible format should work on all iPods (please tell me if it doesn't).
4. Wait for the video to finish converting. If you chose an AAC format it shouldn't take too long, otherwise the conversion speed depends on how fast your computer is.
Remember this is beta software, it may not work on all videos/computers.
FAQ
Q: When I click on the Download button, there's no menu. What's going on?
A: This occurs when an error causes the script to crash. This can be caused by any number of problems, ranging from YouTube updates, to incompatible extensions or userscripts. Make sure you're running the latest version of your browser, the latest version of the script and the latest version of Greasemonkey (if applicable) and tell me about the problem so I can fix it.
Q: I updated the script in Google Chrome, but it still doesn't work. Is this an error?
A: Google Chrome versions 5 and below require you to uninstall the old version of the script to install the new version. To uninstall an installed userscript, go to the tools menu and choose "Extensions". A new tab will open with a list of installed userscripts.
Q: When I click on a link, the video just starts playing again on a new page. How do I download the video?
A: Instead of clicking on the link, right-click and choose "Save Link As...". Alternatively, go to the file menu and choose "Save Page As..." or press Ctrl+S. This can happen on videos with the "iPod compatible" download link.
Q: I thought you said this script could download videos in 1080p. Why can't I see a 1080p download link?
A: Not every format is available for every video. For example, 1080p (Full HD) downloads are only available for videos that were originally uploaded in HD and were uploaded recently. This is because of the way YouTube encodes and stores videos. To test a 1080p download, try this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUM1284TqFc.
Q: When I click on a download link it doesn't load or I get an error message or a blank page. How do I download the video?
A: Sometimes a download link won't work. This can occur for one of two reasons. The first is that the link has "expired". To fix, simply refresh the page to get a fresh link. The second reason is that the script has guessed a format that doesn't actually exist on YouTube's servers. This happens a lot on older videos with the "iPod compatible" download link. The only solution to this is to choose another format.
If you find a video that this script can't download in any format, please tell me about it.
Format Analysis
I decided to do a short format analysis to see what file formats the YouTube format tags actually correspond to. The results were interesting. For one thing, it looks like the 360p format isn't always 360p.
Utilities used were recent builds of FFMPEG and MPlayer, as well as a recent build of Audacity to show that fmt=5 doesn't always have mono sound. A link to the data is below.
Changelog
24/7/10 - Version 2.3.6 - fixed a problem with the thing.
20/7/10 - Version 2.3.5 - fix for German/Italian language.
19/6/10 - Version 2.3.4 - #includes fixed, Opera bug fixed.
18/6/10 - Version 2.3.3 - Support for original resolution. Detecting old formats on the HTML5 beta page is temporarily broken, as is behaviour on the menus. Will fix shortly.
31/5/10 - Version 2.3.2 - AJAX loading support.
24/5/10 - Version 2.3.1 - WebM works better now.
20/5/10 - Version 2.3 - Preliminary WebM download support. (You need a recent build of Chromium or Opera to see the format. You also need to sign up to the HTML5 beta at http://youtube.com/html5 .) Disclaimer: This is likely to break any minute now due to YouTube's code obfuscation, I'm looking for a more permanent method. For a test video that worked last time I tried, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_mU7lkE-sA .
17/5/10 - Version 2.2.3 - Added support for the mysterious fmt=2.
16/5/10 - Version 2.2.2 - Fixed for French language.
15/4/10 - Version 2.2.1 - Fixed for Opera.
11/4/10 - Version 2.2 - Should work with Flashblock for Firefox. Fixed HTML5 support (looks like this is going to break a lot, YouTube keep on making small changes...)
5/4/10 - Version 2.1.1 - Preliminary support for the HTML5 video player. Support for redirecting guessed URLs with an XMLHttpRequest. Fixed the behaviour of the drop down menu.
3/4/10 - Version 2.0 - Added support for YouTube's new interface. Temporarily dropped support for Feather.
22/1/10 - Version 0.9.7 - Last version in the 0.9.x series, last to support the old YouTube.
24/11/09 - Version 0.9 - First version of the script.
