If you are a Mac user and desperately want to download YouTube videos, you have come to the right place. YouTube is becoming a rage amongst all video hosting websites. Besides watching a video, it is the gut feeling to store a video and watch it again. Downloading videos on a Windows OS is pretty simple and there are thousands of tools and extensions available. But, when it comes to Mac, not much help is available and Safari also doesn’t support many extensions. This post is an introduction to the best methods to download YouTube video in safari and store it as local media.
Best free YouTube video downloader for safari
Video grabber is available as a FREE to use online application. The best part of this application is that it is fully compatible with Safari. Yes, you read it right: a free YouTube downloader for Safari. You do not need to pay or register and it is completely free from the hassles of login. All you have to do is copy the URL of your favorite YouTube video and paste it in the download bar and just click Download. Then video grabber will detect the video and request you to download and install a Launcher.
Once you are through with the Launcher prompt, the rest of the process is pretty easy. Your video information will be displayed on the screen and you can select the format and quality of the video and then hit Download. In addition, you can also use Video Grabber to convert videos to any formats and record your PC screen with ease. Downloading YouTube videos from Safari was never so easy but this tool has made it possible. It’s easy to operate. You will have your favorite video on your hard disk in no time.
Safari Activity window
Safari activity window is another FREE way to download YouTube videos in Safari. It is an integrated tool that comes packed with Safari but its original purpose is not to download YouTube videos. We mainly use it to check the activity of the browser in real time. Though, it can be used to download videos from YouTube in Safari, it is a very redundant way and can cause errors.
If you wish to download in this way, open YouTube in Safari. All you have to do is select Window option in the main toolbar and scroll down to Activity. Once the activity window is open, it will give you the details of browser’s current activity. Select the YouTube video from there and Safari’s download window will open and the video will be downloaded to your hard drive. Now, a major drawback of using this method is the file format. You can only download YouTube videos in .flv format which is not always comfortable to play in a media player. For converting it to the format of your choice, you need to use a video converter. So, this method for downloading YouTube video in Safari is too much effort and not much fun.
Compare the two ways
Now, let’s compare the two methods. Both the ways described above can be regarded as safari YouTube downloader. But the nature of them is entirely different. Video Grabber is intended to provide extended support and usability for downloading YouTube videos in Safari. It packs within a search engine for finding videos, converting them to the format and quality of one’s own choice. It also provides video to mp3 functions. Not to forget the capability of the application to convert a local video file to a different format and all this is done FREE.
Taking a look at the Safari Activity Window, it seems pretty basic and not so convenient. The required support is not there and you can only download video in .flv format. So, Video Grabber emerges as a clear winner with fantastic capabilities and all browser support.