Download online .FLV videos from any site including Youtube on Macs

If you have a mac, then your life is going to be a whole lot easier when it comes to downloading videos. Safari, a web browser that I really adore because of its 'lightweight' factor and speed can do more than just display webpages. It can also show the videos that are being loaded in the background, providing you with the URL of the video that you're about to view - which of course makes it all the more easier for you to download the video. You can of course use other methods mentioned in this post, but why sweat it when you have an easier way? Here's how you can perform the feat:

Step 1: Get the Activity and Downloads window ready

1. After you've selected the perfect target (i.e. the video that you'd like to download) click on Window in the Menubar
2. Then click on Downloads - the download window will pop-up... once it does just place it beside your desktop
3. Then click on Window again and click on Activity

Step 2: Getting the video

Refresh the webpage if you're on the webpage that has the video or navigate that webpage. Once the webpage starts loading, you'll notice that Safari starts downloading a big file in the Activity Window. This file will usually be greater than 2 MB or so, but nevertheless it will be the biggest file. This is the .FLV video file that Safari is loading... the file you need to download.

Quickly click on the file in the Activity window then press Command + C then click on the Download window and paste the file in there using the keyboard shortcut Command + V. Safari will then start downloading the file to your desktop! You can then convert the file to a much more usable format.

In the screenshot below (click to magnify) the highlighted file is the file that is being downloaded...

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