YouTube has pushed past the herd to become the leading video archival and distribution website. Its competitors (including MySpace, DailyMotion, MetaCafe and even Google Video) lack the reach of its distribution and breadth of its content. Millions of websites and blogs syndicate videos that originate from YouTube’s inventory. But, downloading and saving YouTube videos presents a problem. The default format of their videos are often incompatible with today’s popular media and video players. But, there is a way you can download, save and play videos from YouTube. Here’s a quick guide to your options…

Recommended: Video Piggy

I recommend downloading and saving videos from YouTube with Video Piggy. It is by far the easiest way out there to download and organize videos from YouTube. Video Piggy also allows you to convert YouTube videos you download into multiple different video formats such as AVI, WMV, MPEG, MP4, MOV and 3GP. You can then put YouTube videos on DVD’s or even your video iPod or iPhone.

Video Piggy also allows you to extract the audio from a YouTube video and convert it to MP3 format so you can listen to it on your MP3 player or in iTunes.

Download Video Piggy Here

Other Options:

Option #1: Using Websites

There are dozens of websites that allow you to download YouTube videos to your PC. Some of these resources are more reliable than others. The best of the lot will let you choose which format to download the videos (AVI, MP4, MOV, etc.). This saves you the hassle of having to download, convert and encode the videos to watch them with your media player. Here are 2 websites that make this process simple:

idesktop.tv – This site not only converts the videos you want while downloading them, but also allows you to download them in a zipped file. This site works similar to Google’s Picassa application. The interface is intuitive with features such as a zoom slider, list of favorites and icons for managing videos that you’re downloading. Also, though you’re not on YouTube’s website, you can view all of the information that accompanies each video.

vixy.net – Vixy works a little differently than idesktop. Rather than searching for videos directly on the site, you’re required to enter the URL (i.e. website address) of the YouTube video that you want to download. After entering the URL of the video, you can select from several formats in which to download it. Though the process isn’t as seamless or fluid as idesktop, vixy does provide an easy way to download and save your YouTube videos.

Option #2: Using Software

If you don’t want to use third-party websites to download, convert and save videos from YouTube, you can use software hosted on your PC. After downloading the software, you would download and convert the videos locally (on your PC). Here are 2 popular applications for doing this.

Video DownloadHelper – If you’re using the Firefox browser, you can grab this add-on for free. This add-on allows you to easily download YouTube videos directly to a file system on your PC. However, once downloaded, you’ll need to use a tool such as WinAVI FLV Converter to convert the videos to AVI format.

Free FLV Downloader – This is a freeware solution that’s actually more robust than Firefox’s Video DownloadHelper. The Free FLV Downloader downloads, saves and then converts YouTube videos to a number of formats that are compatible with your chosen media player.

Watching YouTube Videos On Your PC

Whether you want to watch debates, corporate presentations, movie excerpts, music videos, or funny clips, downloading them onto your PC allows you to enjoy them as often as you wish. There are a number of ways to download the videos and convert them to the proper format for your media player. Third-party websites and software applications provide an easy, low-maintenance solution. Because YouTube’s growth and distribution have literally changed how we consume entertainment, these solutions have become a common way to enjoy online video content.