This post is dedicated to the new VideoGrab extension. It allows users of Chrome to download a playing video with one click from popular video sharing services like YouTube, Vimeo etc.
Download and install the extension here
Current version: 2.6.3 – January 9, 2012
Currently supported services:
YouTube, VKontakte.ru (vk.com), Vimeo, Facebook (videos), Adult Swim, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Trilulilu, YouPorn, Flickr, XVideos, Russia.ru, Lubetube
Questions & Answers:
Q: How do i install the extension?
A: Use this link to download the extension. A notification will appear after downloading to make sure you want to install it, simply agree.
Q: How do i download the file from YouTube?
A: Open the video you would like to download, take a look at the appeared download links below the video. Choose the link you like (there may be different video qualities), right-click and choose “Save link as…”
Q: How do i download the file from other video sharing services?
A: If the service is in the list of supported services, simply open the video you would like to download. You should notice the download links right below the video after the page finished loading.
Q: Why do videos on YouTube get saved as “videoplayback”?
A: That’s because YouTube outputs the files in such a way. To make sure they will be playable, upon saving add an .flv or .mp4 extension to the file (depends on the quality you chose).
Q: How do i turn off the extension if it messes up the page?
A: Locate the VideoGrab icon on top right of Chrome window. Hit it to switch to “Off”. Whenever you want to turn it on again, just hit it again and reload the page where you want the links to appear.
Q: I want to grab video from a different service, how do I do it?
A: Put a comment on this page with a name and a link to the service. It will be implemented in a few days or even quicker.
Q: How do i download from Trilulilu?
A: Trilulilu is specific in how it plays media. It doesn’t allow to view the same video multiple times in a short amount of time (like a minute or so), so if you are watching a video or listening to mp3, simply wait for a minute or two before hitting “Save Link As…”, or else you will be getting an empty saved file
Changelog:
Version 2.6.3 – January 9, 2012
- New YouTube formats + 3D stereoscopic formats!
- Random fixes for VK.com
Version 2.6.2 – May 12, 2011
- Fixes for new YouTube layout
- WebM formats are now downloadable
Version 2.6 – May 12, 2011
- Major fixes for Vkontakte.ru (vk.com), gets links even after the website loads AJAX content
- Removed YouTube from titles and everywhere, you may need uninstalling previous versions – use url chrome://extensions/
- 10,000 download hits!
Version 2.5 – April 8, 2011
- Fix for Vimeo, better code
- Support of Lubetube
Version 2.4.5 – March 25, 2011
- Fix for YouTube links
Version 2.4.4
- Fix for Vkontakte audio and YouTube links
Version 2.4.3
- Support of XVideos.com and Russia.ru
Version 2.4.2
- Fix for Vimeo and VKontakte audio
Version 2.4.1
- Support of Flickr and YouPorn
- Small fix for YouTube 4k videos
Version 2.4
- Support of Metacafe and Trilulilu
Version 2.3
- Support of Adult Swim and Dailymotion
- New pretty download icon
Version 2.2
- Better YouTube output
- Support of downloading Facebook Videos
Version 2.1
- Small fix for YouTube
- Readded support for Vimeo
Version 2.0
- Rewritten version. Now, URLs are placed in the viewed page with a link to download, without interupting user.
- Plugin can be switched ON or OFF now
- Support of YouTube and VKontakte.ru (vk.com)
Version 1.6.3:
- Added support of Skillopedia.ru
- Fixed video download for VKontakte.ru
Version 1.6.2:
- YouTube video can now be downloaded in all available formats (from 240p to 1080p HD)
- Most websites’ flash videos are now behind the VideoGrab box (made by restarting the flash with wmode set to transparent)
Version 1.6.1:
- Fixed some issues with VKontakte.ru
- Minor code fixes
Version 1.6:
- Fixed YouTube HTML5
- Added support of Vkontakte.ru
- URLs are now displayed in a nice simple box
Version 1.5:
- Added support of Metacafe
- .CRX file migrated to GraphicManiacs
- 1,000 downloads in first 3 days
Version 1.4:
- Added support of Vimeo, Blip.tv, partial support of RuTube
Please post the website in comments which you would like to include in next addon release.
Screenshot
A typical work of an extension is seen below – you will see a set of links for different video qualities
Notice
You and only you are responsible for what you do. This extension is meant to be used for personal purposes, for those who don’t have ability to watch and listen media each time online, for people which love to have a private collection HQ clips, music, mixes and other similar stuff.
Download VideoGrab Extension
Please leave some feedback about the extension, and about your experience with it. I would appreciate that
Great experience here. Nice to see someone make an extension without unnecessary prompts, boxes, settings etc.
1 click and it begins downloading the video.
Thanks.
Its kinda ok. Can be used only for youtube and not other webcontent.
Mozilla has the best online grabber…
Yes, mainly because chrome plugins aren’t allowed to intercept data yet, only basic javascript with some google APIs.. Probably they will allow in future
Hehe))) i like it)) very very good plugin
Hi, i figured out on Youtube, but still searching the links for Vimeo.. Is there any catch?
Thanks
Hi James, should be same place as on youtube (below the video). Just checked and it worked.. Can you hit ctrl+shift+j and tell if there are any errors on that page?
should be a good idea to offer support for Trilulilu site
http://trilulilu.ro
i would enjoy a HQ .mp3 conversion function but other than that im loving this extension =D
it’s a good for youtube only.but it’s nice Extensions
mp3 conversion is a planned feature for the next release, so stay in touch, we’re almost there
It works with 4k video but it says “undefined undefined, .undefined”
It should say something like H.264 Original resolution MP4, .mp4
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQ0i3v_KVY for an example 4k video.
Also, I have to right click and do Save link as… or my browser will use an internal video player.
Could you support xvideos.com, please?
empflix?
doesnt work with http://www.animecrazy.net.
I belive so to!
Hi! We want support for russia.ru [for exhample: http://www.russia.ru/video/planka_ti_slovno_is_dojdya/
Cheers
why i cannot download youtube video through this youtube videograb???? what link that link this. i dun see any link in the youtube video.
hope i can use the extension like downloadhelper in mozilla firefox. very convenient.
@michael
i tried to update the extension for animecrazy, but it seems that’s it’s more a blog than a video hosting and each video is just an iframe to some services, so it’s impossible to support the videos at the moment there
@joe
xvideos is now supported in latest version
@vadim
same goes for russia.ru
@elaine
unfortunately there’s no such way yet, firefox is much wider for extensions, allowing data interception and much more, while in chrome it’s javascript.. but if you will find something similar for chrome – would love to look at
I hope I get this video downloaded soon!
As of Today (March 3, 2011) I am unable to get the download menu to appear on the Youtube window. Yesterday it was still working just fine. Has the recent Youtube change broken your code?
Will await an upgrade notification. Thanks!
@Don
Thank you for notifying, something changed in YouTube code.. and i’ve fixed it now! Enjoy
Thanks for an absolute killer extension, but sadly still broken on Chromium 9.0.597.107 (75357) and Ubuntu 10.10
Thank you for the feedback, i will check it in Chromium shortly and see what i can do
Alex, i think the fubar was on my end. All works perfectly now. Thanks again for a great plugin!
Thanks for your job.
Can you add lubetube.com, plz?
Hey Alex,
Is it me or has YouTube switched to streaming links, which makes it unable to download a file from a link? All I get is text-files.
It worked great a few days ago. Now, when I click the links below the video I only get a blank screen.
@Nick, @Mini
I confirm the bug, the fix will be released in an hour or two. Thank you both for keeping me informed
@hodok
Will add that in the next release, thank you for request
Please update the plugin if you have version 2.4.4 or lower for new YouTube links (contains a fix for those)
Hello.
Can you add support for rutube.ru website videos? Thank you
ok, will try to do my best for this one in next release. stand by
I think the vimeo links are broken again :/ They don’t appear under the video anymore.
crap.. ok will fix it in the next release, stay tuned
Hey, The extension looks great, however i’ve no luck with youtube downloads, the extension just redirects to a blank page…
Thanks!
@RC strange, are you using the latest version?
DOESN’T work with vk.com, vkontakte.ru and rutube.ru!
Sad.
@Sidewalker
only audio downloading works for now )
rutube.ru isn’t allowed to download, it uses RTMP streaming (search for rtmp to understand how it works)
i’m working on fixing vk.com videos now (they always change something there
http://www.carvinonline.com uses Adobe Flash Player and I can’t seem to get VideoGrab to work.
@plantman
Please notice that this addon works only for a particular list of websites (see the top of the post)
Hi, as of 20110729, version 2.6 (redownloaded just now to be sure) seems to still not work with vimeo. No links under the video frame. Works great on youtube. I’m using Chromium (not Chrome) 13.0.773.0 (86236) if that matters.
Hi, I’ve been using the extension for about half a year and I love it. But today the links don’t appear under the youtube video. I’ve redownloaded the extension, restarted chrome and restarted my computer but nothing appears. After checking for errors (ctrl+shift+j) there is a warning message that says Resource interpreted as Image but transferred with MIME type text/html. hope you can help me soon!
This is working for me on Vimeo but on youtube I get this message when i check for errors:
Uncaught typeError: object false has no method ‘split’
“Unsafe JavaScript attempt to access frame with URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e82VE8UtW8A from frame with URL ……… Domains, protocols, and ports must match.
anyone know what’s up?
maybe that error wasn’t the problem. but i still can’t get it to work with youtube. works fine on vimeo.
I’m also experiencing these problems with youtube. Last time it worked was last thursday I think.
I would be super cool with some troubleshooting… I really use(d) this great app alot.
Extension updated, please feel free to download and let me know if you still experience the issues
Thank you so much works perfectly now. Love your extension, so convenient and easy. Thanks again