How to save videos from YouTube for free using VLC Media Player in six easy steps

Jan 03, 13

Downloading videos from YouTube is something I think many people need to do from time to time. I always forget how to do it myself and have to re-look it up. So I’m self documenting this time.

1. Download and Install VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/) Why VLC Media Player? Because it’s free, it’s a trusted source, and it works. Additionally, this article is about how to save videos from YouTube using VLC Media Player so if you are using another player, you are doing it wrong. 😀

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2. Open the video you want to save on YouTube, and copy the URL from the address bar.

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3. Open VLC Media Player, click Media, click Open Network Stream, Paste in the URL, click Play.

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4. Pause the video (not really needed, but I normally do), click Tools, click Media Information, right click on Location, click Select All, right click on Location again, click Copy.

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5. Go back to your browser of choice (the one from step 2, probably), right click the address bar, paste in the location data.

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6. The Final Step is very simple. Just save the file in the browser as an MP4 file. Depending on your browser and what plugins you have installed, the video will either start Playing in the browser, or it will ask you to save the file. For me if I paste the location data into IE, it asks to save immediately, but in Chrome it starts playing it. If it starts playing, you need to go to File and Save or Page and Save (depending on what browser you use) to initiate the saving. Otherwise just save it. Below is a screenshot of me saving a video from Chrome. Note that I renamed the video from videoplayback with no extension, which is what it starts as, to TestRayVideo.mp4. You can save it as any name you want as long as you END THE FILE NAME WITH .MP4!

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That’s it, you should now be able to open the saved video or copy it or whatever you want to do with it.

I’ve found various sources for this method over the years, but my source this time was this video on YouTube. Thanks Innolea!