Google has a solid amount of cash in its pockets, but with all the recent lawsuits against YouTube one has to wonder if it’s time to salvage whatever videos you like from the service and save them somewhere where evil attorneys won’t look – your hard drive.
Luckily, there are literally dozens of tools for downloading videos from YouTube and/or converting those YouTube videos to some format other than .flv. It’s hard to pick the best one, as they all have pluses and minuses. Thus, we’ve chosen 23 YouTube downloader tools we’ve found to be actually working. Here they are, categorized according to the platform they work on:
Web based
1. YouTubeX doesn’t have a lot of options, but it’s simple, and it works. It also enables you to share the YouTube video with your friends via e-mail. Unfortunately, all the files are called get_video, and you have to add the .flv extension manually.
www.youtubex.com
2. KeepVid is another simple site. No hassle, works not only for YouTube movies but for a number of other sites, including Google Video, MySpace Video, DailyMotion and others. Again, you have to add the .flv extension by hand.
keepvid.com
3. VideoDownloader is very similar to KeepVid, but supports even more video sharing sites, and it’s also available as a Firefox extension. Just like with KeepVid, all downloads are in .flv format. We recommend MediaCoder for free conversion.
javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
4. YouTube Downloads takes the cake in the longest domain name contest. It also separates itself by using a proxy for downloading videos, which means that you might be able to get videos even if YouTube access is blocked at your workplace or in the country you live. Just search Google for YouTube videos, and copy/paste the URL into YouTube Downloads.
www.downloadandsaveyoutubevideos.info
5. Zamzar is an online file format conversion site which can do a lot more than just converting YouTube videos to another format and downloading them to your hard drive, but it’s doing a great job so we had to include it here. Thoroughly tested by us and highly recommended. See the video of it in action here.
www.zamzar.com
6. YouTubia separates itself from the crowd by enabling you to search as well as download YouTube files. Options are scarce, but it works.
www.youtubia.com
7. VidGrab is another simple site that works with YouTube, Google Video, MySpace and Break.com. Besides the download function, the site also sports a top list of most viewed videos.
www.vidgrab.com
8. Vixy offers both downloading videos and converting them into DivX avi, mov, mp4, 3gp, or mp3 (for audio only) formats. The conversion works well enough, but sometimes results in slightly choppy playback.
vixy.net
9. Hey! Watch is an ambitious video encoding service with a large number of options, especially when it comes to converting videos to portable media player formats (it even supports my trusty iRiver H340.) Most online video converters often produce crappy results, with video and audio being out of sync, and this problem is also present on Hey! Watch, but it happens rarely.
heywatch.com
10. Media Converter can be a little slow, but the results of the video conversion are quite good. We’ve converted some YouTube videos to avi (mpeg4 + mp3) format and it worked well. The tool is not limited to video conversion; it also supports several audio and document formats.
www.mediaconverter.org
11. KcoolOnline is a web-based converter which supports 98 video sharing web sites, including YouTube. It has literally zero options, so it’s recommended for those who like to keep it simple.
www.kcoolonline.com
Windows Applications
12. VDownloader is a desktop application that catches YouTube, Google Video, and Grinvi video links from your clipboard. Start it up, copy the video URL and click download. It automatically converts the videos to mpeg or avi formats.
www.softpedia.com/progDownload/VDownloader-Download-51327.html
13. YouTube Grabber downloads files from Youtube in .flv format. Copy and paste the URL of a video from YouTube into the program, press «grab», and the file will be downloaded into the same directory as the program.
www.download.com/Youtube-Grabber/3000-2071_4-10574801.html
14. Orbit Downloader is a desktop application which can download videos from a wide variety of sites. The download process is very simple, just hover your mouse over the video and you’ll get a button that says «Get It». The developers of the program claim that it’s very fast (up to 500% faster, they say) due to its P2P download technology.
www.orbitdownloader.com
15. My Video Downloader. With all these free tools, it’s actually funny to see a commercial one. It’s called My Video Downloader, and while it does look solid and offers a lot of conversion options (a free trial which enables you to download 10 videos is available), we’re not sure it offers enough to warrant a price tag.
myvideodownloader.com
16. KeepV is a desktop downloader as well as a converter, which can convert the downloaded videos from flv to avi, mov, mp4, or 3gp formats.
keepv.com
17. VideoGet boasts being able to download video clips from more than 100 video sharing websites. We haven’t tested all of them, so we’re just going to take their word for it. It’s a deskop application with a nice, simple interface, and a solid number of options.
nuclear-coffee.com/php/products.php
18. TubeSucker is a desktop YouTube video downloader with some interesting options, including batch downloading large amounts of videos from a certain user. See the video tour on the site.
www.newrad.com/software/tubesucker/
OS X
19. Get Tube is an OS X application which lets you download video or audio files from YouTube, DailyMotion and Kewego.
web.mac.com/simonvrel/iWeb/software/v.1.0.html
Linux
20. Youtube-dl. Here’s some love for Linux users. Youtube-dl is a program that lets you download YouTube clips in flv format, which both mplayer and VLC can easily chew up.
www.nuxified.org/blog/download_youtube_video_files_with_youtube_dl
21. YouTube Ripper is not actually an application; it’s a simple script that rips all videos that match a keyword, uploaded by a specific YouTube user. We don’t really have ideas on what to use this for, but maybe you do! PHP port is also available.
nlindblad.org/2007/04/08/youtube-ripper-collectors-edition/
Plugins
22. Vidtaker is a Firefox-only plugin that can download videos from most streaming websites: Google Video, YouTube, MySpace, as well as a number of nasty adult SomethingTube spinoffs (Pornotube, YouPorn etc). It automatically converts the video to a DivX avi.
www.vidtaker.com
23. Ook? Video Ook! Yes, that’s the full name of this Firefox plugin, which enables you to download videos from YouTube and several other video sharing web sites. It features one click downloading and integration with the popular DownThemAll Firefox plugin.
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2584
译文:
23种下载YouTube视频的方法
Google的确是荷包满满啊，但是最近关于YouTube的诉讼问题让我们不禁去想这个问题，如果现在要你去“营救”你所喜欢的视频，将它们藏到别人看不到的地方，你会存放到哪里呢？是硬盘中吗？
幸运的是，现在有一大把下载并转换YouTube视频的工具。但是它们各有各的好处，到底选哪个呢？因此，我们选择了23个真正有用的YouTube下载工具。我们按照它们工作的平台来进行分类，你看看哪个最适合你吧：
网络程序:
1.YouTubeX没有很多花哨的功能，但是它操作简便，并且确实有效。它还支持通过Email和好友共享视频文件。遗憾的是，下载后的文件名都是get_video，你需要在后面手动加上.flv作为扩展名。
www.youtubex.com
2.KeepVid也是一个操作简便的站点，它不仅支持YouTube，还支持包括Google Video,MySpace Video,DailyMotion等视频站点。和YouTubeX一样的是，你需要手动更改扩展名。
keepvid.com
3.VideoDownloader和KeepVid很象，但是它支持更多视频分享网站，适用于Firefox扩展插件。和KeepVid一样，所有下载的文件都是.flv格式的。我们推荐MediaCoder来免费进行文件转换。
javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
4.YouTube Downloads在做比较前，已经取得一个“竞赛”的胜利了，那就是“域名最长比赛”。它提供使用代理服务器来下载视频，这就意味着，即便今后YouTube在你的工作地或是你生活的国家封锁掉，你还是可以登录到该网站上。你只需在Google上搜索YouTube视频，并且将URL地址复制/粘帖到YouTube Downloads即可。www.downloadandsaveyoutubevideos.info
5.Zamzar可以将YouTube视频在线转换成你需要的格式然后下载，而且效果很不错。经过我们的测试，向你极力推荐。
www.zamzar.com
6.YouTubia提供直接在它的网站上搜索并下载YouTube视频。选项虽然不多，但是都很实用。
www.youtubia.com
7.VidGrab同时支持YouTube、Google Video、MySpace和Break.com。除了下载功能之外，他还提供了一个最受欢迎榜单。
www.vidgrab.com
8.Vixy除了提供下载之外，还支持将.flv格式的文件在线转换为DivX avi、 mov、mp4、 3gp以及mp3音频文件。格式转换功能很不错，但有时转换好的视频会产生小瑕疵。
vixy.net
9. Hey! Watch特点在于提供了种类繁多的功能，特别是将视频格式转换为适合各种掌上媒体播放器格式的功能（它还支持我信赖的iRiver H340）。大部分通过在线视频转换器转换的视频都会存在一定的问题，例如视频和音频不同步，这个问题也会发生在Hey！Watch上，但是并不常见。
heywatch.com
10.Media Converter速度可能会有点慢，但是转换的效果不错。我们尝试过使用该工具将YouTube的视频转换为avi格式（mpeg4 + mp3），而且效果很不错哦。该工具不仅仅局限于转换视频格式；还支持多种音频和文档格式的转换.
www.mediaconverter.org
11.KcoolOnline是一个在线视频转换器，支持98种视频分享网站，包括YouTube。它不提供任何选项，所以很适合那些希望操作简便的人。
www.kcoolonline.com
Windows应用程序
12.VDownloader是一款支持从剪贴簿中获取YouTube、Google Video以及Grinvi 视频链接。 打开后，复制视频地址然后点击下载就可以了。它还支持自动将视频转换为mpeg或者avi格式文件.
www.softpedia.com/progDownload/VDownloader-Download-51327.html
13.YouTube Grabber能以.flv格式下载YouTube视频。复制并粘帖视频URL地址，点击“抓取”，该文件就会被保存到相应的目录中去了。
www.download.com/Youtube-Grabber/3000-2071_4-10574801.html
14.Orbit Downloader是一个桌面应用程序，支持众多视频分享网站。下载的过程十分简单，仅需找到你想下载的视频，点击“下载”。该工具开发人员生成，该工具由于使用了P2P技术，所以下载速度非常快（据说提速4倍）。
www.orbitdownloader.com
15. My Video Downloader. 我们发现了那么多免费的工具，而这款则是我们很“欣喜”发现的需要付费使用的转换器。该款工具看上去十分稳定，提供许多转换选项（你可以免费试用，下载10个视频），我们还不明白它有什么优势能够成为付费网站。
myvideodownloader.com
16.KeepV集成了下载和转换功能.支持将flv文件转换为 avi、 mov、mp4 以及3gp格式.
keepv.com
17.VideoGet号称支持100多种视频分享网站。虽然我们还没有进行全面的测试，但是我们选择相信它。它有一个很简洁美观的界面，还有一些不错的选项可供自定义。
nuclear-coffee.com/php/products.php
18.TubeSucker是一个桌面YouTube视频下载器，它有些有趣的功能，包括能够批量下载某个特定用户的视频。你可以在它的网站上看到视频介绍哦。
www.newrad.com/software/tubesucker/
OS X平台
19.Get Tube支持来自YouTube, DailyMotion 和 Kewego的视频及音频下载.
web.mac.com/simonvrel/iWeb/software/v.1.0.html
Linux平台
20.Youtube-dl. 该网站是很多Linux用户的大爱。Youtube-dl能让你以flv格式下载YouTube视频剪辑，mplayer和VLC都可以轻松播放这些视频。
www.nuxified.org/blog/download_youtube_video_files_with_youtube_dl
21.YouTube Ripper实际上并不是一个应用程序；它只是一个简单的script代码，将YouTube某个用户符合某一关键字的视频抓取下来。我们并不清楚它能干什么，但是可能你清楚！PHP端口也适用。
nlindblad.org/2007/04/08/youtube-ripper-collectors-edition/
插件推荐
22. Vidtaker仅适用于Firefox，它可以下载多个网站的视频：Google Video、YouTube和MySpace等。还包括一些成人网站（Pornotube和 YouPorn等）。它会自动将视频转为DivX avi格式。
www.vidtaker.com
23. Ook? Video Ook!同样是一个Firefox插件，它支持YouTube和其他多个网站的视频下载。它以一键下载和结合DownThemAllFirefox插件为特色。
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2584