This week alone four co-workers/clients/friends have asked me how they can save videos off of YouTube to their local computer.  I’ve tried doing this a million different ways over the years and have settled on a pretty simple solution: I use Keepvid to do it. 

Keepvid allows you to grab a source FLV file from most video sharing sites (YouTube, Blip.tv, etc.) simply by copying the URL of the video you want into the site.  Keepvid then spits back a link to the source file, you right click and save as and you are on your way.  The only complication is that you have to change the extension of the file you save from “.html” to “.flv” after saving.  Works like charm, although I’ve mostly used it for YouTube videos.

My previous method was to use the Video Downloader extension in Firefox.  I found it to be somewhat buggy and annoying to use.  Keepvid is much simpler. 

If you are interested in diving into this topic in more depth, you should check out CNet’s breakdown of the different ways to save videos.