Download YouTube HD Video Directly From Your Browser
Do you want to find out how to download a YouTube video directly from your browser without the need to visit any odd-looking website wich may contain malicious spyware? Here is a quick guide that will help you do just that!
Just recently I wanted to download a video from one of our concerts to keep for my record. However, I wasn’t really up for trying any of the websites that offer that service because they look too suspicious.
Additionally, I preferred to download the HD version of the video and most of these sites didn’t even offer that option.
These are the basic steps:
- You find the link to the video from the page
- Swap the html coding with characters
- Paste it on your browser and the download will begin
Yes, it’s that simple!
Example
Lets say I want to download the following video, which I own and uploaded on youtube, but for some reason I lost my personal copy on my computer. This is what I would do:
- Open the video on YouTube and select on the appropriate quality. Lets say 720p.
- Right click on a blank space on the page and select “View Page Source“
- Search for “,url“
- Highlight and copy the code that starts right after from “http…” until before the first slash
- Open a new blank tab on your browser and on the address line type “javascript:unescape(“xxxx“)and instead of “xxxx” paste the url you copied previously. Then hit enter. This will decode the html characters to normal characters (from http%3A%2F%2… to http://…)
- Copy the new url that just appeared, paste it on your browser and hit enter to open it.
- Voila! Your download will start immediately! (In some browsers, such as my chrome, it may actually open a preview of the file. Just right click and “Save As”.)
Video
For your convenience I also made a video tutorial that shows the above process.
Warning!
Do not forget to go by the copyright licences! Only download videos you own and you need for archiving purposes!
FAQ
Q: When I use javascript:unescape(“…”) on my browser nothing happens. How can I fix this?
A: Sometimes javascript doesn’t function unless the tab you are using already previews a page. So if it’s not working, try visiting a page (lets say google.com) and when that’s open then type the script on the address bar and hit enter. Another reason why this may not work is if you forget the brackets in the parentheses on javascript:unescape(“…“)
Q: When I open the decoded URL, my video download doesn’t start automatically. How can I download the video?
A: Many browsers try to preview the video instead of downloading it. In that case simply “Right Click” and “Save As”
