Some time ago I posted “How to locally download a streaming video with Edge browser (e.g. the Verdi’s grandest opera AIDA)” showing how can be downloaded an mp4 video, even a very long one, finding the video URL in the Developing Tools section available in the Edge browser.
However, very often we would like to download locally on our PC a video or an mp3 from YouTube, Vimeo or other sites that use specific ways to let more difficult to identify the direct URL of the media, in order to avoid people can easily download them and do not need to see them only through their site  (and see advertising, that is the main profit for them!). … but this let the download more difficult but not impossible! 😉
In fact, there are a lot of ways, for example the use of a specific browser plug-in (e.g. DownloadHelper Extension) or the installation of a specific program/app … even though you must be careful not to install also some spyware together!  BUT there are also simpler ways that do not need to install anything more, as using the two following methods I describe in the following.

You can see also PC magazine suggestions on this topic!

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INDEX

• ByClick
• VLC Media Player
• 4K Video Downloader
• yout.com (no more available)
• notube.net

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ByClick

After a while of installs / uninstalls of programs, I finally came to a program that met my expectations, having no limitation on the number of files in the playlist and with a more than acceptable cost if one wants to download the Full HD version of the videos: the program is ByClick and below I briefly describe the very intuitive interface. Probably it is not the only program available on the Internet that provides these features for free: having in fact achieved my goal, I have not continued in my research.

It also allows downloading a playlist (see my post: Come scaricare gratuitamente da YouTube, sul proprio PC, tutti i video/audio presenti in una playlist) and this is very useful in several cases!

If ByClick is running, if you go to a YouTube video, a popup windows will appear asking if you want to download that video (MP4) or only its audio (MP3): any way you can always copy the video URL (right click and select Copy URL video [IT: Copia URL video]) and past it in the proper field (2) in ByClick and then press the Download [IT: Scarica] button:

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Use of the free VLC Media Player desktop application and a browser (e.g. Edge).

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P.S. (27/10/2018)
Unfortunately, this method seems to not work anymore for downloading from YouTube because it introduced some kind of protection in order to avoid this, but it works in other cases! So please for YouTube video try the other method I will describe that still works. 😉

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You probably have already installed this popular and useful player, so you can use it also to identify the URL that will allow you to access the actual video file on YouTube’s servers – the one YouTube tries to hide – allowing you to download it to your computer. Note that VLC by default downloads the video in the highest possible quality. So, you can follow the steps below and possibly see the step-by-step video, clicking on the following figure:

a) Copy the complete address of the YouTube video you want to download (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTofEF-_Cnk);

b) Launch VLC Media Player and, from the menu Media, select “Open Network Stream” (IT: “Apri periferica di acquisizione“) and then, go to the “Network” tab (IT: “Rete“), insert into the input fields the previously copied video URL. Finally, press “Play” (IT: “Riproduci“);

c) While the video is playing, from the menu “Tools” (“IT: “Strumenti“) select “Codec Information” (IT: “Informazioni codificatore“) and at the bottom of the popup page you can find, in the “Location” field (IT: “Posizione“), the searched URL.

d) Copy that URL (e.g. right-click -> Select all) and then paste it into a new browser tab: this will load the video directly in your browser;

e) Right-click on the played video and select “Save video as” to save locally the file.

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4K Video Downloader

A further option is to install on your PC a proper application.
One of the best is 4K Video Downloader which has a free version that allows downloading even at high resolution till 30 videos per day … that is enough in many cases!

It also allows extracting only audio tracks from a video.

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Use of the yout.com site (free only for low-quality audio [128kb/s] or video [720p HD]).
NO MORE AVAILABLE

Another even easiest way (that it also allows deciding if downloading the video or only the mp3 audio) is to use the free online service offered by the yout.com site: you only have to paste the YouTube video URL into the input field available on the homepage of that site to see that video and press the Record MP4 button to start the download (or the Record MP3 button, if you only want the audio). Before copying the URL, be careful to select, on the YouTube page, the video/audio quality you want, possibly the highest one, in order to get the URL specific for that quality type file.

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Be careful, that in the case of a YouTube play list, the URL to be copied is not the one of the lists but of every single video, so you need to right-click on each video displayed on the right list:

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Use of the notube.net site

Another online downloader that can be used is notube.net.

As usual, to get a YouTube video URL, right-click on the video and select Copy video URL from the popup menu.

When you insert the URL of a YouTube video in the input field, select from the selection box the best available resolution for video (MP4 HD) or for audio (MP3 HD).

Then, after pressing the OK button, be careful to close every new tab page that automatically will be opened with some advertisement: the real page that allows you to download the video/audio is the one on the original tab!! On that page, after a download line, you have to click on the green download [IT: Scaricare] button to have the file downloaded locally on your PC (by default, in the PC download folder). Make sure you do not accept any file download from the alert popup windows the browser may ask you: only the mp3 file have to be downloaded… no others!!

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See also other posts of mine:

• Utilizzando le funzionalità del browser Edge, come scaricarsi in locale brani mp3 o video mp4 riprodotti in un sito tramite appositi controlli video/audio
• How to locally download a streaming video with Edge browser (e.g. the Verdi’s grandest opera AIDA or the Puccini’s Boheme);
• How to locally download mp4 video and mp3 audio (from YouTube or other sites)]

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Useful links

• youtubemp3
• listentoyoutube
• notube
• 4K Video Downloader