Need Mac support!
October 26, 2011 7:05 PM   Subscribe

I need a YouTube downloader for my MacBook.

It needs to play both video and audio. Ideally, it would be something similar to this. Thanks!
posted by WaspEnterprises to Computers & Internet (12 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite

 
This may be more manual than you are looking for, but it is my method when I want to download a youtube video.

Select the resolution you want and start the video playing (make sure it starts loading the resolution you want from the very beginning, not midway through). Go to the Window menu, choose Activity. Find your youtube page. There will be a list of 50-100 resources on the page. Look for the one that is measured in MB instead of KB. Double click on it. This will sometimes start the video downloading to your downloads folder, other times it will start it playing again in your browser. If it does this, put the cursor in the url bar and press option-enter to download.
posted by reeddavid at 7:22 PM on October 26, 2011


Also, "Youtube Download" search on cnet download.com.
posted by reeddavid at 7:25 PM on October 26, 2011


Best answer: keepvid.com works everywhere and no mucking with looking at the code.
posted by Brian Puccio at 7:25 PM on October 26, 2011


If perchance you're on Firefox, why not just use the DownloadHelper plugin? It puts a nice little button in your toolbar which animates when a downloadable file/video appears on the page.
posted by mykescipark at 7:39 PM on October 26, 2011


If you use Firefox you could also use the Greasemonkey script like YousableTubeFix, which adds a pretty simple Download button to each page on YouTube (amongst other things).
posted by bcwinters at 7:44 PM on October 26, 2011


Another version of reeddavid's technique is that instead of double-clicking on the item in the activity window, just single-click and command-C it. Then open a download window and command-V. This will start it downloading.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:37 PM on October 26, 2011


can you use the command line?

https://bitbucket.org/rg3/youtube-dl
posted by cupcake1337 at 9:46 PM on October 26, 2011


JDownloader will handle this. It conveniently gives you the option of selecting among the different qualities and formats available, including downloading just the audio.

Or you could use OffLiberty - paste the URL on their website and they provide download links.

Both of these will work for various other sites as well.
posted by unmake at 10:08 AM on October 27, 2011


+1 for youtube-dl. You type this:

% youtube-dl http://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=_wILUZiVVXo

that is `youtube-dl [paste the video url from your browser]`

and bam!, it downloads.
posted by kjell at 11:59 AM on October 27, 2011


Just stick "pwn" in front of "youtube":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YD0E7DZAH4 becomes:
www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=1YD0E7DZAH4

That should give you more than enough info to download videos. It also has a handy bookmarklet that makes downloading easier.
posted by chairface at 2:03 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]


MacTubes is pretty neat.
posted by unliteral at 10:14 PM on October 27, 2011


If you want a more convenient solution, and don't mind paying for it, try iTube Studio. You open the app, then play the YouTube video, and it downloads it automatically. No URL copying, no code, just click and go. It also plays back the videos and can convert them for viewing on iOS devices.
posted by ScarletPumpernickel at 11:31 PM on October 27, 2011


« Older One way first class ticket to Albequerque^WRomania   |   Look at the size of that moai's heed! I'm not... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.