I was searching for a method to download videos (non-copyrighted) directly from youtube to my computer. After about 2 minutes searching, I ended up downloading and installing a Firefox Add-On called Video Download Helper.
As of May 07, 2013, Video DownloadHelper has been download or installed by over 6.6 million firefox users and is rated 4.0 out of 5.0. With these amount of downloads and rating, it does not make me think twice about downloading this firefox-addon.
Video DownloadHelper – What is it?
From the Firefox Add-Ons download page, Video DownloadHelper is described as follows:
“The easy way to download and convert Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites. This works also for audio and picture galleries.”
Food For Thought: Anything we view online is saved somewhere inside our computer.
Right now, if you visit Youtube to watch online videos, you will not be able to ‘download’ the videos you watch on it. I know that there are many sites that will let you download youtube videos but they require several steps like going to their site, copying and pasting youtube URL etc. This method will not work for me because I like to get things done quickly.
Video DownloadHelper – How To Use
After installing Video DownloadHelper, I wanted to quickly try out the new Firefox add-on I’ve installed. I went to youtube and search for “ex-boyfriend” and clicked one of the first 3 results. On the upper left of firefox next to back and forward buttons, you will see the Video DownloadHelper icon and a dropdown arrow where it will list all the downloadable videos or images on the current page that you are viewing.
Every time you view a video on Video DownloadHelper supported sites, the download link will be added automatically to this list. Clicking any of those link will download the video to your computer.
Video DownloadHelper Supported Sites
What you get from downloading this firefox add-on is not only the ability to download videos from youtube but you also get to download videos from other supported sites.
For fun and giggle, check out what video showed up.