Downloading Videos The Safe Way

Over the years I have tried many apps and online utilities for downloading videos from the Internet, especially YouTube.  These utilities tend to come and go, and some of them can install all kinds of unwanted files, services and viruses on your PC.

This article describes what I consider to be one of the safest methods for downloading videos from the Internet.

Step 1 - Get VLC Media Player
This excellent and well trusted freeware app can be downloaded here:
https://www.videolan.org/index.html

Step 2 - Obtain the URL of the video you want to download
For example in YouTube find a video and start it playing.  Then right click on the playing video and choose: 'Copy video URL' from the popup menu.

Step 3 - Paste the Video URL into VLC and Start it Playing

• Run VLC Media Player.
• On the VLC main menu, select:  Media --> Open Network Stream.
• Paste your previously copied video URL into the box, then click the Play button:

Step 4 - Get the Video Location URL
Once the video starts playing in VLC media player, on the main menu select: Tools --> Codec Information and then copy the Location URL:

Step 5 - Enter the Location URL into your Browser Address Bar
Navigate to the video location by pasting the copied location url into the address bar of your browser.
When the video is playing in your browser, right click on the playing video and choose 'Save As' from the popup menu to download the video to a chosen folder on your PC.

Job done, and without any risk of installing unwanted garbage on your PC :-)