How to Download File Share Videos Onto Your Computer

Download music videos and transfer those to an MP4 player.

Novice and professional videographers upload videos from a computer to the Internet to share with the world. The viewing audience and end-users simply visit any of the numerous file-sharing websites on the Internet to watch the video. The websites' developers usually embed a video player in the Web page for users' convenience. However, this setup might restrict the audience to only watching the streaming video while connected to the Internet. If you would prefer to download the video to your PC and not watch it with your Internet browser, you can add software components that detect and capture the video's stream.

Instructions

1. Navigate to the file sharing website, such as MegaVideo or Veoh. (See Resource 1 and 2) Bring up the Web page that has shared video. Look for a button labeled "Download." Click that option to download the video to the computer. If this button does not show on the Web page, but it does have the option to "Play" or "Watch" the video using an embedded player, then proceed to the next step.

2. Navigate to the "add-ons" or "extensions" website for the Internet browser installed on the PC. As examples, Mozilla hosts the "Add-ons for Firefox" website and Google hosts the "Chrome Extensions" website. (See Resource 3 and 4)

3. Type "video download" in the search box on the Web pages to see a list of potential add-ons. Skim the titles and descriptions of the add-ons, looking for programs that can capture common Internet video file formats, such as Flash Video (FLV), Shockwave Flash (SWF), and Windows Media Video (WMV). (See Reference 3) Choose an add-on the has a high-compatibility with video formats, because file formats vary greatly by website. Examples include "FlashGot" for Firefox and "VideoDownloader for YouTube" for Chrome. (See Reference 1 and 2)

4. Click the "Download" link after you have found an add-on. Follow the installation directions provided by the developer on the Web page.

5. Bring up the file sharing video website again. Click "Play" or "Watch." Wait for the Internet browser and the embedded media player to start streaming the video to your PC.

6. Right-click on a blank area of the Web page, avoiding the actual video frame. Click on the name of the add-on from the menu. Clicking this option will prompt the add-on to capture the video stream and save it to the hard drive on the PC. Monitor the browser's status bar at the bottom to see how the download is progressing.

   For example, using the FlashGot add-on in Firefox, the menu option is labeled "FlashGot Media." Selecting this option will open a dialog box. Choose a location to save the file on the hard drive and then click "OK."

Tips & Warnings

• If your installed media player programs cannot play the downloaded Internet video's format, such as FLV and SWF, then download and install any freeware program that can render this format. The "FLV Player" is a free program that recognizes many video formats (See Resources).

References

• Mozilla: Add-Ons for Firefox: FlashGot
• Google: Chrome Extensions: VideoDownloader for YouTube
• Adobe Help: Adobe Dreamweaver: About FLA, SWF and FLV File Types

Resources

• MegaVideo
• Veoh
• Mozilla: Add-Ons for Firefox
• Google: Chrome Extensions
• Microsoft Windows: Internet Explorer Add-Ons: Frequently Asked Questions
• CNet: FLV Player