How to download videos from youtube

If you find a really good video on youtube, it's nice to be able to have it on your computer so you can watch it offline, send it to other people, put it onto your phone/iPod etc

Downloading the Video

Downloading the video is very easy. There are plenty of websites that can help you to download a video. Here are a few to start you off:
youtubecatcher.com
Keepvid.com
Vixy.net
Downloadyoutubevideos.com

The process is short and simple:

First, get the URL to the video.
Insert the URL into one of the aforementioned websites. They all have forms into which you can insert the link. Just press the download button, and the site will do the rest.

Extensions

If you regularly visit YouTube and want to download a large number of videos, then it would be useful to get an extension for Mozilla Firefox that allows you to download videos as you’re watching them. There are a number of extensions you can choose from. Here are two to start you off:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3590

Viewing it

Now that the video has been downloaded, you can watch it offline. However, you’ll notice that the video has the dot flv extension (flash) and that it can’t be played in Windows Media Player (not easily anyway). The solution is to either get a media player that does play flv’s or to get the flv codec (which will allow you to play it). Your other option is to convert the flv to a more common video format, such as Mpeg or WMV. You can learn how to do this here