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How to Download YouTube With Safari

I always find it pretty hilarious when whole leagues of software pop up to perform functions most people could accomplish with the programs they already use. Software like this feeds on its own stupidity, because its very existence perpetuates the idea that it has unique features.

A perfect example is the countless applications dedicated to downloading videos from YouTube (and other such flash-based video sites). Some of them even cost money.

It turns out you can use Safari to pull .flv video files from YouTube, and it’s even easy to do. Open any YouTube page in Safari and hit command-option-A (command-option-A) to open Safari’s activity window.

The activity window is a generally useful tool that basically nobody knows about. It is simply a list of all the individual files that make up Safari’s open webpages. If you’re curious about a site’s structure, want to grab a particular image, or just want to know why something is loading slowly, check the activity window.

The activity window will look something like this when a YouTube page is open:

One of these files is not like the others, and that’s the relatively massive (14.7 MB in the above example case) “get_video” .flv video file that you want to download. Select its line in the activity window and copy it (command-C). This puts the .flv’s URL on your clipboard.

Now comes the haxxery. Bring forward Safari’s downloads window (command-option-L) and paste the .flv’s URL (command-V). I’m listing all the keystrokes because they make this little trick very fast.

Wait for your download to complete, and bam! You’ve got the video. However, OS X won’t recognize it as a .flv file quite yet, and that’s because it’s missing a proper file extension. Rename the mystery “get_video” file with a “.flv” at the end.

Now that OS X recognizes the video file, you can play it. I recommend using VLC or Quicktime with Perian.

Update: Rolf points out that it’s possible to save all of the copying and pasting business and cut to the chase by simply double-clicking an item in the activity window while holding the option (alt) key. This action will automatically download the item.