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Download YouTube and Online Streaming Videos Without Any Software

by | Wednesday, 03rd Feb 2010 | 21 Comments | Share

Many users use to view the latest videos. However, YouTube does not allow users to download video from the site. There are lot lot of software which allow users to download YouTube videos, both through a desktop software and a online service. However, whenever you watch YouTube videos, the video is downloaded and played back from your local cache.

Here is a solution which will allow you to copy and store YouTube videos which you have already watched to your PC. This method does not require any additional software, and will not cost you additional bandwidth.

Steps To Download/Copy YouTube Video to Your PC

Before you can perform the steps given below, make sure the hidden files are visible in Windows explorer. If you are not aware of how to unhide hidden folders, you can read a tutorial on how to show/hide hidden folders in Windows.

Step 1: Browse and watch YouTube in any web browser, preferably Internet Explorer.

Step 2: If you like a video you watched, do not close the browser window or tab. In order to copy the downloaded video you need to keep the browser window open.

Step 3: Open explorer and navigate to the following location:

Windows XP: C:Documents and Settings*USERNAME*Local SettingsTemp

/ Windows 7: C:Users*USERNAME*AppDataLocalTemp

Find FLA file in Temp Folder

Step 4: In the temp folder look for file which has the name  "fla*Some_Number*.tmp", for example fla128.tmp or fla36.tmp.

unlock_file_locks copy_file_to_folder

Step 5: The fla*.tmp file is video that was downloaded to your local cache. Copy the file to another folder and rename it to "Whatever_You_Like.flv "

rename_fla_to_flvThat’s It, using the above steps you can download or store a video from YouTube without wasting even extra bandwidth. You can use a free desktop FLV player to watch the downloaded video or even play FLV files in Windows Media Player using a FLV codec.

Note: Sometime you will get an error while copying and pasting the fla*.tmp file to another folder, you can download a software called Unlocker to release locks on the file. To learn more on how to use the Unlocker software, visit the post on a guide to use Unlocker to release file locks.

This is a guest post by Rajesh from 4Tech.info, where you can find the latest innovative updates. Want to guest post for us? Read our Guest Post guidelines to find out how you can submit guest posts to us.

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I am the editor-in-chief and owner of Techie Buzz. I love coding and have contributed to several open source projects in the past. You can know more about me and my projects by visiting my Personal Website.I am also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter, you can follow Keith on twitter @keithdsouza. You can click on my name to visit my Google+ profile.

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  1. Williams on February 3rd, 2010 at 5:47 pm #

    Wow, Great Tip Man. But Suppose if we watch 4-5 videos in youtube, and there will 4-5 temporary files, how can we know which video is which temp?

    Do they have specific names or only numbers?

    • Chinmoy Kanjilal on February 3rd, 2010 at 10:53 pm #

      My best guess is that the video is deleted from the cache if you close that window. And even if it remains, the temp files will be named in some sequence. So, no absolute way of knowing which temp file is for which video, but you can guess something from the numbers there.

  2. bee on February 4th, 2010 at 6:27 am #

    difficult but interesting…

  3. Meena on February 4th, 2010 at 2:59 pm #

    well, it works :D but on XP only, unlocker doesn't work the same on win7
    :(
    any other ideas?

    • Walter on March 23rd, 2012 at 11:54 pm #

      I would suggest closing internet explorer and copying the file as fast as possible. Internet Explorer will take some time to delete the file while it’s closing. So if you are fast enough maybe you save the video to a secure location until IE or other browser deletes it…

  4. Karthik Prabhu on February 7th, 2010 at 1:28 am #

    Hey.. This article is really cool.. A good post on downloading the streaming videos by online cache.. I had discovered this trick a year ago.. It's really good trick.. Your post has the method which works on IE.. I have posted a method which works on Mozilla Firefox on my blog..Check out my Blog.. I have posted about 22 ways of downloading the youtube videos.. This method is also included..

    • Joel McRae on November 7th, 2010 at 4:51 pm #

      The link to your site is bogus. It’s for life insurance, it’s not about a method to download streaming media at all. Why would you do that?

  5. twin on February 12th, 2011 at 12:21 pm #

    it doesn’t work!!!
    the moment i unlock it wit the software is the moment the file dissappear

  6. tanmay on March 28th, 2011 at 3:20 am #

    after downloading some vedios my fla file dissapered!!!
    can anyone please tell me the reason y dis happened??

  7. pankaj chandak on April 1st, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

    it’s not working in windows 7 starter……….i’m using hp mini.

  8. Mohsen goodguy on April 12th, 2011 at 6:59 am #

    thank you very much …… you helped me a lot

  9. Mohsen goodguy on April 12th, 2011 at 7:10 am #

    right click menu does not have the unlocker …!!

  10. bagga`` on May 14th, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    dude m nt able to copy the file………help plz

  11. Hupesh sahu on June 1st, 2011 at 5:15 am #

    When all suggestion not work but you want download any video from any website watch the video full(fully watched) and then unplug your pc from current means directly shut down your pc not manually. Again start your pc and go temp folder by using “Run” write %temp%
    on “run” and then rename the file with .flv extension

    • Meena Bassem on July 21st, 2011 at 6:39 am #

      no offense , what kind of people will ruin their computer by doing so every time they want to download a video?

      btw, if you want to download a video without software, you don’t really have to watch it , just give http://www.clipconverter.cc/ a try, i use its Bookmarklet , you’ll find it in the addon tab
      enjoy :D

  12. annonymous on July 17th, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    Hey there thank u for the great trick but copy option doesnot appear in the unlocker. There is only move, rename, delete and no action. NO COPY option. and when I tried to move, rename or delete, it gives an error message saying file is open, cant move..
    This is in windows 7..
    just found out that i needed to upgrade my unlocker software..

  13. mukesh on November 13th, 2011 at 1:20 pm #

    Thanks dud it’s work very well

  14. Meena Bassem on November 16th, 2011 at 9:26 am #

    oh, it works fine on windows7. I’ve made a tutorial about i here
    http://meena-tech.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-get-video-that-youve-just.html

  15. Ivan Francis on November 21st, 2011 at 3:48 am #

    Amazing way yaar
    I am fron nepanagar

  16. arafin shaon on February 22nd, 2012 at 4:27 am #

    not working on win 8 man…….

  17. KARAN on April 29th, 2012 at 2:43 pm #

    IS THERE COMPOLSORY TO PLAY THE FULL VIDEO BEFORE COPING FILE TO ANOTHER FOLDER,
    AND EVEN AFTER WATCHING FULL VIDEO I M NOT GETTING FLA FILE IN MY “TEMP” FOLDER,
    PLZ HELP ME………