Easily save YouTube videos without apps/add-ons/terminal


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Found this on OMG! UBUNTU, tested it myself on Ubuntu.

You don't need any special applications, browser add-ons or terminal commands to save YouTube videos in Ubuntu:

1. Open the YouTube video you want in your browser. Let it load completely, with the quality setting you prefer (SD, HQ, HD). Do not close the browser at this point.

ytsave1.png

2. Open Nautilus and go to /tmp (File System -> tmp). You will find a file named Flash-something. If you have thumbnail previews enabled for video files, it will show up immediately.

ytsave2.png

3. Copy that file to another folder. Rename it as you please, with the extension .flv (not necessary, it'll just ease up organization and recognition of the file) . You can now close the browser/tab.

ytsave3.png

4. Click on it, it will play in your media player.

ytsave4.png

And that's it! What the OMG!U article didn't say, is that it works with other browsers as well (tested it with Chrome), and other pages (DailyMotion). And I'm most certain it works with other distros, too :) Enjoy it!

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  • 6 months later...
  • 2 months later...

This is only for Youtube or can work with any other site?

I think its for all flash videos, they get cached to that folder.

I think its just easier to install youtube downloader and click on a button under the video and it does it for you.

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Still, there are Firefox/Chrome extensions that pretty much do the same in a hassle-free fashion. It's still an extra thing to install but it's not really a big deal. Also, built-in FLV playback FTW.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 months later...

If you set the cache_control http header this trick of retrieving files from /tmp directories would work for most media streaming, grooveshark, youtube,etc, etc ..

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