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On a fast internet connection, downloading Youtube videos is too slow compared to downloading files from other websites. Currently I'm using get_flash_videos to download the Youtube videos.

How can I integrate get_flash_videos with multi-threaded download accelerators like axel, MultiGet or Wxdownloadfast?

Michael Mrozek
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lokomika
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  • Take a look [here](http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/7718/download-youtube-video-with-wget), just replace wget with one of the downloaders you mentioned, does it work? – Philomath Jul 19 '11 at 04:51
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    I use `youtube-dl`. I had not previously heard of `get_flash_videos`. How does it compare with `youtube-dl`? – Faheem Mitha Oct 10 '11 at 16:15
  • There is `clive` as well. Also, keep in mind, that if you put additional load on YouTube's servers, you're encouraging them to close the "hole" that these downloaders use. So please don't do that. – derobert Dec 09 '11 at 16:59
  • @derobert: I may be missing something, but shouldn't YOuTube like it when people download stuff? The bandwidth use is the same as for one viewing, and the viewer won't be hitting the servers to watch it repeatedly. I realise they don't have an official download method, so maybe they don't like it *that* much. Does YouTube have an official position on this? – Faheem Mitha Dec 09 '11 at 18:14
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    @FaheemMitha: Well, Google has several times removed all the YouTube downloaders it could find from the Android market. Also, see II(11) of the [YouTube API terms](http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/terms.html). There are several parts of the normal TOS that could be read to be against downloading too (and also against using a download accelerator) – derobert Dec 09 '11 at 18:28
  • @derobert: Thanks for the link. I was not aware of this, and I still don't get it. Do they think they own the content just because it has been uploaded to their servers? – Faheem Mitha Dec 09 '11 at 18:38
  • @FaheemMitha: I'd guess the actual reasons are probably that they feel the legal (copyright, etc.) risk is lower with streaming-only. Further, they have content providers that want streaming-only. Lastly, they can monetize streaming better, I suspect. I'd guess that Google feels its within its rights to dictate terms of access to their servers. Of course, the probably don't care much—at least not enough to start an "arms race" over it, or worse to start filing lawsuits (the PR cost would be enormous), but adding in a DL accelerator will make them care more (because it eats server resources). – derobert Dec 09 '11 at 19:19
  • @derobert: I see. Thanks for the informative comments. – Faheem Mitha Dec 09 '11 at 19:25
  • Not really command-line, but have you tried DownloadHelper extension for Firefox? I believe it can be used together with download accelerators. – codeguru Jan 18 '12 at 14:17

2 Answers2

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I agree with the comments saying youtube-dl is probably what you want, but you will also be interested to know:

YouTube's performance at downloading FLV is far slower than downloading the MP4 for whatever reason.

Therefore, avoiding Flash entirely may help more than a download accelerator.

Nemo
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TryTryAgain
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I took a look at the source code of get_flash_videos.

You will need to edit the source code to get the URL if you want to use get_flash_videos. There is no way to get the URL from it as it is currently.

However, it probably wouldn't be too hard to do very crude hack to get this done.

EDIT: I might be wrong. If youtube uses rtmp protocol, then I don't know if it's possible to get an http link or not.

EDIT2: Keep in mind that you could use XBMC (and others) to watch it if you're just trying to avoid using flash. You could also pipe it into your favorite video player. I don't think you have any options for archival purposes.

n0pe
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user606723
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