Looking for an easy way to download your favorite videos from YouTube, Google Video or any other popular video sharing site? Keep on reading, then, because you might find some good hints here.

Photo credit: ronen

Video sharing sites are increasingly a resourceful destination for entertainment, documentary, indie clips, music and a lot more. The only drawback they video sharing sites have is that in most cases there is no feature allowing the easy and immediate downloading of your preferred clips so that you could actually watch them even when not connected to the Internet.

But, unknown to many, there are indeed many easy ways to download your favorite video clips without having to install any particular software and independently of the operating system you are using on your computer.

I am referring to web-based video downloading services that not only let you download all the video clips you want but which also convert the same video clips in any of the many video file formats that you have a specific preference for.

In this mini-guide I am providing you with a short-list of some of the most popular of such video downloading services.

If you wish to suggest other services for inclusion in this mini-guide feel free to contribute as well by posting a comment at the end of the article.

Here they are:

VideoDL

VideoDL is an Ajax application that allows you to download online videos on your computer. VideoDL supports YouTube, Google Video and Break.com. In order to download the videos you like, you simply need to copy the link of the page with video and paste it into the textbox. Then, click "Get It!" and follow the instruction. After you have saved the files into your hard drive, make sure the extension of the file is .flv. VideoDL is free to use.

Link: http://www.videodl.org/

Vixy

Vixy is a website that lets you download videos from popular sites and allows you to convert the m into various video formats (including iPod and PSP). You simply need to enter the URL of the video and Vixy will do the rest. This service is open source and developers interested in making changes to it can freely download the source code. Vixy is completely free to use.

Link: http://vixy.net/

KeepVid

KeepVid is a site that allows you to download videos from many video sharing sites, including YouTube, Google Video, MySpace Video, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Revver and other popular sites. Remember that once the video is downloaded on your computer, you will have to add the .flv extension manually. KeepVid is free to use.

Link: http://keepvid.com/

VideoDownloader

VideoDownloader is a site that supports a great list of video sharing sites and more importantly, it’s also available as a Firefox extension, allowing you to seamlessly integrate it within your browser. Like similar web services, all downloaded videos are in .flv format; therefore, you will need to use a video converter in order to watch the video (unless your video player doesn’t support .flv). VideoDownloader is completely free to use.

Link: http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php

YouTubeX

YouTubeX is a site that lets you download videos from YouTube. It doesn’t have a lot of options in terms of video sites among which you could choose, but in its simplicity it works fine. It also enables you to share the YouTube video with your friends via e-mail. All the downloaded files are called “get_video”, and you will have to add the .flv extension manually. YouTubeX is completely free to use.

Link: http://www.youtubex.com/

DownThisVideo

DownThisVideo is a website that lets you download videos from YouTube, GoogleVideo, MetaCafe, Vimeo and other services. You simply have to paste the link in the search box and the service will do all the work for you. Please note that AVI and MP4 formats are allowed for Google Video only. DownThisVideo is free to use.

Link: http://downthisvideo.com/

KissYouTube

KissYouTube is a service that provides two interesting ways to download videos from YouTube. The first is to go on the page where the video is located and add the word “kiss” in front of the youtube.com domain name; once you press Enter, the browser will bring you to the KissYouTube site, where you will be able to download the video. Alternatively, you can simply go on the KissYouTube website, enter the URL of the video and push “Get it”. The video will be downloaded in .flv format. Free to use.

Link: http://www.kissyoutube.com/

YouTubeDownloads

YouTubeDownloads is an interesting service that lets you download videos from YouTube (other sites are not supported). Once you enter the link to the video you want to download, you will be able to save it as a .flv file. You will need to use a video player that supports this file format in order to be able to watch it. YouTubeDownloads is completely free to use.

Link: http://www.downloadandsaveyoutubevideos.info/

YouTubia

YouTubia.com is a YouTube clone that lets you download and save YouTube videos within your IE or Firefox browser. YouTube videos are downloaded in the new .flv (flash video) format, and you will need a .flv Player to watch them. You might have to rename the file extension of the downloaded video file to be ".flv" before you can play it. Free to use.

Link: http://www.youtubia.com/

Kcoolonline

Kcoolonline is a site that lets you download videos on your hard disk from more than 90 sites, including YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, iFilm and MySpace, Yahoo and many more. Some time file comes with name “get_video”; in those occasions, you need to rename it and add the .flv extension. Kcoolonline is completely free to use.

Link: http://www.kcoolonline.com/

Hey!Watch

Hey!Watch provides a simple way to download videos from video sharing sites and encode. You can download videos from Google Video, YouTube, Metacafé, Break, MySpace and many other video sites. Videos can be encoded in iPod format, PSP, 3GP and other popular formats. The API of Hey!Watch can be easily integrated in any web or desktop applications. The service is not free and 1 encode credit only costs you $0.10 or 0.07€.

Link: http://heywatch.com/page/home

MediaConverter

MediaConverter is a platform that lets you download and convert videos straight from YouTube. Among the supported file formats there are .avi, .flv, .mov, 3GP and many others. MediaConverter also enables you to upload your own videos and convert them easily. MediaConverter is completely free to use.

Link: http://www.mediaconverter.org/

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Here is a list of articles we have published here on Robin Good's MasterNewMedia on online video publishing and video conversion. Check them out if you want to know more on this topic:

• Convert And Encode Video Files From And To Any Format: Hey!Watch


• Online Video Tools And Internet Television Trends: The Best Of 2006


• Video Publishing Online: Where To Share Your Video Clips On The Web


• Publish And View Online Video Using Free Software: A Present To Richard Stallman


• Online Video Publishing: Create Your Own Streaming Internet TV Channel With Streamcast Player


• Open Video Platform Becomes Gateway To Internet Television Experience: Democracy TV Gets Better