It seems that we are constantly looking up entertainment or other videos on YouTube, but if you don’t have an active internet connection available you won't be watching anything. That is, unless you download the videos to your hard drive. We’ll show you how it’s done with just Safari and QuickTime 7 Pro.lot of complicated software, but we’ll show you how it’s done with just Safari and QuickTime 7 Pro.
Please note that we do not condone internet piracy. Only download videos that are in the public domain and not under copyright protection.
>> Mac OS X
>> Safari 5
>> QuickTime 7 Pro ($29.99)
Any video should work fine, but don’t pirate copyrighted material.
The first step to downloading a YouTube video to your Mac is to find a video that you want to download. Simply navigate to the YouTube page of the video you wish to download and ensure that the video is set to the resolution you want (360, 480, 720, etc.), and then pause the video.
While the video is still loading, open Safari’s Activity Menu by clicking Window > Activity. Once there, locate the URL of the file that is loading. The loading file will appear in the Activity dialog with a status of “x of y MB.”
You may need to click on the disclosure triangle to show the loading content.
When you see this file status, double-click on it in the Activity dialog. It will open a new tab or window in Safari (depending on you Safari tab preferences). When this new tab opens, copy the URL in the address bar of Safari. This is the URL that we will open in QuickTime.
Click in the address bar and press Command + A, and then press Command + C to ensure you copy the entire URL.
Ensure that you clear any existing text from this box before pasting in the new URL.
Once you have the URL of the YouTube video copied to your clipboard, open QuickTime 7 Pro, and press Command + U on your keyboard (or click File > Open URL). In the resulting dialog box, paste in (Command + V) the URL that you copied from Safari, and then click the OK button.
You can play the video inside of QuickTime just as you would on YouTube.
After doing that, a video window will open and the YouTube video will begin loading in QuickTime. You will need to wait until the entire video has loaded before trying to complete the next step.
After the full video has successfully loaded in QuickTime 7 Pro, the File > Save option will be visible. Click this to get started with the save process.
Ensure that only the “Self-contained movie” is selected as the save option.
In the resulting dialog, specify a save name, select the save location, and then ensure that the option for “Self-contained movie” is selected. When you are ready to save the video, click the Save button. After a few seconds, the video will be outputted to the save location you selected.
Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
Anna Brooks
May 22, 2013 at 7:43am
There is no activity menu in the latest versions of Safari. So it will be more reliable to use online video downloader service like YouTubebyclick.com or stand-alone app like Elmedia Player PRO, which can be used as YouTube downloader for Mac.
Myee Fazebook
November 08, 2012 at 11:59pm
I'm running Mac OS 10.8.2 with Safari 6.0.2.
Relying on your tutorial I spent 30 bucks on Quicktime 7Pro and then began following your directions. Got as far as step 2 which says "open Safari’s Activity Menu by clicking Window > Activity."
Problem: There IS NO "Activity Menu" under the window tab or any other menu tab in Safari 6.0.2.
Did a search for Activity Menu in Safari help and the only thing that came up was "Monitor activity in the Safari window" which said to choose Develop>Show Web Inspector. Unfortunately doing that did not bring up any status information showing "The loading file . . with a status of “x of y MB.” So there was no URL to copy into quicktime.
Geesh 30 bucks and nearly 3 hours later and no YouTube video downloaded.
All I've learned is what won't work. Not pleased to have wasted my time and money.
I's really like to be able to download copyright free video from YouTube to my mac for a class project I'm working on. Would be most grateful if someone directs me to instructions that will work . . . . :-/
kwinieck
January 22, 2012 at 9:55pm
When the blank window opens, Safari starts downloading the file automatically and gives it file type extension .flv. QuickTime X can show an .flv file type automatically. QuickTime 7 (don't need Pro) needs the Perian plugin (see perian.org) to show an .flv file type. When opening the file in QuickTime, it can take 30+ seconds to start showing the video; so be patient.
deanw
December 26, 2011 at 10:35am
I am trying to follow these instructions and when I double click in the activity menu it opens a blank page in safari. Then Quicktime doesn't open properly - when I open Quicktime all I get is the controller bar(play, rewind, pause, etc), not a screen that would show the video or that shows it is loading.. Assistance would be appreciated.
gcamarano
September 19, 2011 at 4:54pm
Thank you very much Mac Life geniuses for making me waste my money downloading Quicktime Pro and looking for the Quicktime 7 when I have Lion. Would it kill you post updated instructions?
Dark Chld
September 19, 2011 at 2:13pm
You will find that, you don't need to spend money buying Quicktime Pro, but you can use the standard Quicktime X that comes with Mac OS 10.6 and 10.7
Same procedure as described in the article
CharlyStrongerThanU
September 16, 2011 at 9:32pm
jack jack jack is right right right, yo. At step 2 of your instructions, I hold the option key and double-click the video file (usually .flv), and it downloads.
OrigSyn
November 03, 2011 at 10:17pm
Just read the article in print and wondered why you didn't just the downloading file in Step 2? It automatically saves the file in the previously selected Download space.
Off-Topic: Another trick I like is the to swap input and output without having to go through System Preferences or through another piece of software.
jack jack jack
September 16, 2011 at 5:47pm
actually, you do not need to copy it into quicktime. the file will automatically download when you double click in the thing in the activity window
