DownloadingYouTube Videos

The recommended procedure for using a YouTube video is to preview the entire video (both audio and video) and download the video you will be using to your computer. This procedure allows you to be certain of the educational merits of a particular video and that it has not been altered in any offensive way. This document describes the process for downloading, converting (and saving), and playing the video.

TO DOWNLOAD AND CONVERT VIDEOS

  1. Using Internet Explorer, type In the address bar.
  1. In the search bar, type the name of the video you want to use.
  1. Select the video that you want to download by clicking on the video’s title, which is found to the right of the thumbnail image.
  1. If the selected video is the one you want to convert and save,highlight the internet link in the address bar.
  1. Copy the highlighted link by right-clicking and selecting copy. (The same way as you copy text from Microsoft Word)
  2. Opena new tab in Internet Explorer and go to
  3. In the whiteURL bar,right-click and paste the link you copied from YouTube.

  1. Careful: The advertisement is the more prominent Download button and you don’t want to click on it. Click the Download button to the right of where you pasted the link.
  2. You will see that it is loading a Java Applet
  1. If/when the Warning-Security window pops up, click the “I accept” check box and click Run.
  1. After clicking “Run” another Security Warning window pops up, repeat step 10.
  1. Now, finally, you should see the Download links with several different choices of video formats.
  • For best quality choose Download MP4 – 720p.
  • If you need to conserve hard drive space, you can choose Download MP4 – (Max 480p) or Download FLV – 480p.
  • Do you see the numbers to the right of the download links? It shows the number of pixels per inch and the size of the file after it is converted. The higher the number of pixels the higher the video quality, however, higher numbers also mean that the video will take more time to convert and will take up more space on your hard drive. Roughly 1000 megabytes (MB) = 1 gigabyte (GB)
  1. When the “File Download” dialog box appears click on Save.

  1. Save the file to your hard drive orto a USB/flash drive so you can bring the file with you to school. Make sure you re-name the file so you can recognize it later. You may need to install a program like VLC Player in order to play .flv files.

TO INSTALL THE VLC Player

  1. To install the program, you first download it for free from the following link.

Click on Download VLC.

  1. Toward the top of the web page, click on where it says Click here for options… and then click Download File…
  1. Click on Run (If this doesn’t work, try saving it first and then running it.)
  1. Click on Run, again
  1. Choose a language and click OK
  1. Click Next
  1. Click Next
  1. Choose Components or leave “as is” then click Next.

  1. Click Install

  1. Click Finish
  1. Check the options you want and click Save and Continue

VIEWING VIDEO ON A COMPUTER WITH VLC PLAYER

  1. After opening the VLC Player, play the video by clicking on the Media tab and choosing Open File. Then locate the file you saved in the previous steps and Double-click the icon to open it.
  1. Your video should now be playing through VLC Player!