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Are there any tools to save videos from sites such as YouTube to my local hard drive for later viewing? What are the legal implications?

flag	asked Feb 5 at 14:50 Rich Seller♦♦ 3,498●1●5●14

Rich Seller · Answer 1 · 2010-02-05 14:55:06Z UTC

I've seen that BenderConverter offers a service that allows you to specify the required format and provide a URL for the video and it will convert the stream to that file type.

Generally using this service will probably be violating the source site's terms of use, and they may in turn may be hosting copyrighted material without permission; so be very wary of doing this.

From BenderConverter's terms of use:

You agree not to use the Bender Converter service to download files, the content of which violates any patent rights, trademarks, trade secret, copyright or other property rights by any person or entity.

Vidkun · Answer 2 · 2010-02-06 00:11:50Z UTC

There are a number of extensions for firefox that will download streaming flash videos from a large number of sites.

A lot of times you can also just view the source for the page that the video is playing on, then find url that it is pointing to in order to play the movie, copy that url and go to it in your browser. Your browser will think you are trying to download the file and prompt you to for where to save it.

How can I save streaming videos locally?

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