You need to download videos from YouTube ? You need to view YouTube videos in a media player ? You need to convert your videos to a video format of your choice ?
Here you got the best freewares and open source programs !
N.B: This can also work for most of the video websites on the internet ( YouTube, Google, iFilm, Metacafe, DailyMotion, MySpace … )
- Enter this website : http://keepvid.com/
- And then enter the URL of the webpage containing the video. For example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptnPFsOJtVA
- Then choose the video provider. For example : YouTube.
- Now click on “Download”
- Right-click on “›› Download Link ‹‹″
>> Click on “Save Link As …”
Choose a name and then add “.flv” extension.
For example : video1.flv
Click on “Save”
Now you need a FLV Player to view your downloaded video.
These are great enough and FREE. 
Download it here :
FLV Player 1.3.3 (1.13MB)
(the smallest one with a clean and neat user interface)
Wimpy Desktop FLV Player (2.5 MB)
(available for Windows and MAC users; stylish player with skin customization)
Now you need a FLV converter so that your video can be viewed on other video player (like Winamp, Windows Media Player …) or also your iPod Video or any portable video player …
Download it here :
FLV to video formats (.avi .wmv …) :
Free FLV Converter 1.6 (5.8 MB)
Pros :
- Large language support (Arabic, French, English, German, Spanish …)
- Most used video formats including “.avi”
- You’re able to search directly for videos from YouTube, DailyMotion, Google and Metacafé.
- You can change the format of your video before downloading it.
- You can preview the video you want.
Cons :
- Conversions can be slow.
Digital Video Converter 1.2 (8MB)
- Convert any video to AVI, MPG, WMV, iPod, 3GP and more …
- Support for Mobile Phones.
You only need the sound in your video ? Check this one !
FLV to audio formats (.mp3 …) :
Free YouTube to MP3 Converter 2.4 (4.8 MB)
- Easy-to-use interface.
- You can choose to convert the a local video or a video on the internet by copying the URL
- You can choose the quality of audio through presets.
Freez FLV to MP3 Converter (2.8MB)
- You can set the output MP3 audio’s bitrate, frequency, channels, or simply set the same values as the FLV video’s audio stream.
- Friendly user interface.
FLV to iPod : For iPod fans !
Koyote iPod Video Converter
- You can automatically download videos from YouTube
- You can customize iPod Standard Video format by changing the audio and video presets.
- Supported formats : .flv, .avi, .mpeg, .wmv, .vob, .asf …
- An option to shut down the PC when the video conversion is done.
FLV to PSP videos formats (mpeg-4): for PSP geeks !
Moyea FLV Downloader
- Manage and convert easily your videos.
- Support for iPod, iPhone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media Player, MP3 …
N.B : All these programs are free. (Freeware Licence)
I’ve only mentioned Keep Vid but you can also try these great websites :
- Javi Moya
The great creator of this download process
Same user interface as Keep Vid - Media Pirate
… and I’ll mention as a great Free Download Manager :Orbit Downloader
Because of its easy-to-use interface and great support with Firefox and other internet browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer, Maxthon and Opera.
The “Grab it” feature lets you download more easily all the media on a webpage (videos -and FLV- and audio files) with a simple click.
Extensions for Mozilla Firefox :
Video DownloadHelper 4.2 (Works on Firefox 1.5 – 3.6*)
Media Pirate – The video downloader 2.3 (Works on Firefox 1.0 – 2.0.0.*)
Software working with Microsoft Internet Explorer :
Web Video Downloader
- Download video easily from YouTube, MSN, Google …
- Automatically capture videos which you’re viewing on the web.
- Extensions for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera …
- Supported formats including .flv, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .3gp, .rm, .rmvb …
- Support for Mobile Phones and PSP.
Posted by Wissam El-Kik 