I spent quite a bit of time trying different ways of downloading some youtube training videos I was using over and over again. Especially with a bad internet connection, downloading seemed smarter than continuing to stream, backup, and stream over and over again.
All the internet preferred solutions either didn't work or turned out to be rat-holes for spyware or buying other things.
Then, buried toward the end of an article which was trying to promote garbage I'd already given up on, was this gem:
http://clipgrab.org/
Open Source! Supported downloads on Windows, Mac, AND Linux! Recognizes the video and picks up name, etc. Lots of easy options to adjust resolution (I only needed low res and saved a bunch of space that way); change formats (I converted to MP4 on the fly; and set download location.
Worked like a charm with absolutely no surprises, except pleasant ones! Any of my pre-existing video players read the files without any problems!
Free (I will probably donate some money). This is just awesome!
1. Clipgrab (Open-Source)
Downloading YouTube videos is just a matter of few clicks with Clipgrab. Just get the URL of the video, paste it in Clipgrab, select the quality, format of the video and hit Grab this clip! button.
It’s not just for YouTube, you can download videos from other major video websites such as Vimeo and Dailymotion as well.
clipgrab youtube
You can grab the AppImage file from the official site and get started with it by referring to our AppImage guide.
There’s a PPA available as well, but it’s for Ubuntu 18.04 or lower.
Here’s what you need to type to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:clipgrab-team/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install clipgrab
To remove Clipgrab from the system use the following commands:
sudo apt remove clipgrab
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:clipgrab-team/ppa
ClipGrab
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