This article shows you how to download a video from the web using the VLC Media Player program. If you haven't already, before continuing, make sure you install VLC Media Player on your Windows or Mac computer.
Steps
Step 1. Go to the web page where the video you want to download is published
Start the internet browser of your choice, then use the following URL https://www.youtube.com/ to access the YouTube website and be able to locate the video to download to your computer. To make sure it is the correct video you can play a few seconds of it.
If you are having trouble finding the correct video, use the YouTube search bar located at the top of the page
Step 2. Copy the full URL of the movie you have chosen
Highlight the entire visible text within the browser address bar using the mouse, then press the key combination Ctrl + C on Windows or ⌘ Command + C on Mac. The URL of the chosen movie will be copied to the "Clipboard" system.
Step 3. Launch VLC Media Player
It features an orange traffic cone icon.
If you have not yet installed it on your computer, you can download the installation file from the following URL: https://www.videolan.org. VLC Media Player is a free and open-source program complete with all the features to play any type of multimedia file
Step 4. Open a new "Network Stream"
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Windows systems:
access the menu Average and choose the option Open Network Stream …;
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Mac:
access the menu File and choose the option Open network.
Step 5. Paste the URL of the YouTube video you want to download into the "Enter a network URL" text field
Make sure the video address is complete.
Step 6. Press the Play button (on Windows systems} or Open (on Mac).
This way the YouTube video will be played inside the VLC Media Player program window.
Step 7. View information about the codec used
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Windows systems:
access the menu Tools and choose the voice Encoder information;
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Mac:
access the menu Window and choose the voice Media information.
Step 8. Copy the contents of the "Position" field located at the bottom of the window that appeared
This is a very long text string, so be sure to select it and copy it in full.
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Windows systems:
select the "Position" field with the right mouse button, choose the option Select All from the context menu that appeared, then select the "Position" field again with the right mouse button, but this time choose the item Copy;
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Mac:
select the "Location" field with the right mouse button, then choose the option Open URL.
Step 9. Open a new browser tab and paste the copied text from the "Location" field of VLC Media Player into the address bar, then press the Enter key
In this way the chosen video will be loaded directly into the browser.
If you are using a Mac and have chosen the "Open URL" option, you can skip this step
Step 10. Select the video image in the new browser tab with the right mouse button and choose the Save video as option from the context menu that appeared
The "Save As" dialog box will appear.
Step 11. Name your video and choose the folder to save it
By default the name "videoplayback" will be used, but you can choose to use whatever name you prefer. After renaming the file, select the folder in which to save it.
Step 12. Press the Save button
The video will be downloaded directly to your computer, in the indicated folder, with the highest video resolution level available.
Advice
Within the "Convert / Save" window of VLC relative to the selected file you will be able to change the video format with which to save the movie locally (for example "MP4"). Remember that you will need to make changes before pressing the button Save.
Warnings
- In order to download video files from the web using VLC, you will need to have an active internet connection.
- Using the VLC Media Player program you will be able to download content from most compatible websites, however in some cases, if there are restrictions on the server hosting the file in question, you will not be able to save it locally. For example, the websites of government institutions do not normally allow direct downloading of video files anonymously.
