This tutorial will guide you through downloading YouTube videos and other media using Download Helper. It also covers conversion of downloaded media to iPod, Nokia N95, or other portable media players.

Sometimes you just want to save a copy of a cool YouTube video, or a video from a similar kind of site. Most of these sites make it very difficult for the average user to save a local copy. That’s where Download Helper, one of my favourite Firefox extensions, comes in. Using Download Helper you can easily save videos from most popular video sites.

I’m running Fedora 9 while writing this tutorial and taking screenshots. Note that Download Helper is not specific to Linux. You can follow exactly the same steps to install and use it on Windows or OS X.

1. Grab a copy of Download Helper. You will have to restart Firefox for the installation to complete.
2. One of the first things you will notice is a new icon on the Navigation Toolbar.


click to enlarge

3. This icon shows up in black and white until you visit a web page containing media that Download Helper can download. Try visiting YouTube and playing a video.


click to enlarge

4. The Download Helper icon has now become colourful. This means Download Helper has detected that you are viewing a web page containing media that it can download for you. Try clicking on the little Down Arrow next to the Download Helper icon.


click to enlarge

5. Notice how a menu drops down and shows a list of downloadable media. In this example I am viewing a video called How To Video Your Vote, so logically I selected How_To_Video_Your_Vote.flv. Next I was prompted to select where to save the video. I selected my dwhelper folder.


click to enlarge

6. Now I go have a look in my dwhelper folder, and there it is.



7. Here’s how it looks playing in MPlayer on Linux.



8. So, what if you want to play your downloaded videos on your iPod, Nokia 95, or other portable media player? You’re in luck. Download Helper can be configured to automatically convert your videos when you download them. Right Click on the Download Helper icon and select Preferences.


click to enlarge

9. Now you are presented with the Preferences window. Click on the Conversion tab on the far right.


click to enlarge


click to enlarge

10. You must check the Conversion Enabled checkbox. Here is where you set your conversion rules. Windows users will need to click the Install/Update Converter button and follow the on screen prompts before being able to continue. Click New Rule.


click to enlarge

11. Now you see the Conversion Rule window.



12. Where it says Files With Extension, select ALL and where it says Output, select iPod (or whatever format your portable player prefers), then click OK.



13. Now your Preferences window should look similar to the following:


click to enlarge

14. Click OK and go back to YouTube. This time we’re going to convert the video when we download it. Click on the little Down Arrow next to the Download Helper icon and notice how there is now an option called How_To_Video_Your_Vote.m4v


click to enlarge

15. Select How_To_Video_Your_Vote.m4v and you are prompted to select where to save your converted video. Again, I chose to save it in my dwhelper folder.


click to enlarge

16. Short videos like those found on YouTube shouldn’t take very long to convert. The conversion in this example happened so fast that I was unable to capture a screenshot of the Conversion Completed popup before it disappeared. If you look in your dwhelper folder, you should see your newly converted video.



17. Now simply copy the video to your iPod, N95, or other portable media player.