11

Note: This question is about download URLs, not software. The question "How do I download a YouTube video?" deals with software.

What exactly changed for YouTube download URLs a few days ago? How should YouTube download URLs be formed now?

The following URL used to work (downloading this Flash video to disk) but no longer works since the change:

http://www.youtube.com/get_video.php?video_id=DYW50F42ss8&t=vjVQa1PpcFPDxa83Hr1_9pftRUWdsMyJ10a2o8QZvIs=

Note: the following information is only to illustrate the problem. I am only interested in the information about how to form download URLs.

This change affected quite a few tools. Here are leads from some Firefox plug-in homepages:

From Video DownloadHelper 4.7.4, 2010-07-22:

"As many of the users noticed, Video DownloadHelper does not work well on YouTube since today. This is due to a very recent change at YouTube. We made a fix that seems to work ok. "

From Easy YouTube Video Downloader 3.4, 2010-07-24:

"Please update to latest version 3.5 in sandbox to get it working again with latest Youtube changes"

From YouTube Downloader, 2010-07-24:

"YouTube has updated their website in a way that breaks YouTube Downloader 2.5.6 and older. We are working on version 2.6 which fixes this problem."

Related: "How do I download a YouTube video?". Some of those tools may be broken now!

Improve this question
6
  • I don't see any change in the source code. Maybe it's a slight change, but the videoplayback link is still there.
    – Vortico
    Jul 24, 2010 at 22:57
  • @Vortico: do you have a direct URL to that source code?
    – Peter Mortensen
    Jul 25, 2010 at 0:06
  • (Placeholder for Andrew's comment: "you forgot to say what the change was and the code solution.")
    – Peter Mortensen
    Jul 25, 2010 at 0:53
  • OH! Sorry about that, I misunderstood. What I meant to say is that you can still download the FLV or MP4 (HTML 5) by opening the source code of the video page and searching videoplayback.
    – Vortico
    Jul 25, 2010 at 2:17
  • 2
    For example, the link to the FLV of the video you posted is v12.lscache4.c.youtube.com/…
    – Vortico
    Jul 25, 2010 at 2:18

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

I am unsure what changed, but I suspect YouTube changed their URLs so you can not get a video without matching cookies. This prevents 3rd party sites from showing you ads and giving you download links.

I can tell you this link (pasted at the very bottom), which I got from your video, WORKS for me. However if I paste it in my other instance of Firefox (which has different cookies for the site) this link does NOT work.

I suggest using a userscript. I like YouTube Enhancer.

If you need to do this in code I do see the link(s?) in var swfConfig =

http://v12.lscache4.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?ip=0.0.0.0&sparams=id%2Cexpire%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Calgorithm%2Cburst%2Cfactor%2Coc%3AU0dXRVFRTl9FSkNNN19JS1JB&fexp=903205%2C906501&algorithm=throttle-factor&itag=34&ipbits=0&burst=40&sver=3&expire=1280160000&key=yt1&signature=2F2BB59B9BA3E6AB62CEE47F597D7A4D96002893.03196019F468211FAA4E492F7F5B1951951AEAF9&factor=1.25&id=0d85b9d05e36b2cf&title=Tom%20Lehrer%20CHEMISTRY%20element%20song

to make it easy for me to read I did a full escape using this handy script.

http://v12.lscache4.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?ip=0.0.0.0&sparams=id,expire,ip,ipbits,itag,algorithm,burst,factor,oc:U0dXRVFRTl9FSkNNN19JS1JB&fexp=903205,906501&algorithm=throttle-factor&itag=34&ipbits=0&burst=40&sver=3&expire=1280160000&key=yt1&signature=2F2BB59B9BA3E6AB62CEE47F597D7A4D96002893.03196019F468211FAA4E492F7F5B1951951AEAF9&factor=1.25&id=0d85b9d05e36b2cf&title=Tom Lehrer CHEMISTRY element song

Improve this answer
0

I found another great browser script to use with GreaseMonkey.

It is called YouTube Links. It is available here (archived). And here is the source code.

I have chosen this, because it works without derouting to an external downloading webapp.

enter image description here

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.