Does anybody know how to download protected video streams? IDM (Internet Download Manager) catches the link but will not download the streams for "legal" reasons.
If I paste the link into youtube-dl.exe it downloads the video but there is no sound. The audio is missing.
Please PM me if you need the video link. Thanks, much appreciated.

 

Try this:
1- go to the vid you want to download in youtube
2- in the address bar add ".ss" after the word YouTube so that it reads "youtube.ss.com/bla bla bla" (without the quotes)
Press enter and follow instructions.

 

If DRM protection easiest Way is to record it via a Screenrecorder (Use Firefox as Chrome/Edge will block the Video while recording)

 

Last edited: Jul 20, 2022

Thanks but it is not a YouTube video that I'm trying to download. I referred to youtub-dl.exe (a powerful command-line utility used to download videos from 100's of sites including YouTube).

 

When you use youtube-dl you should first see what streams are available, like this: youtube-dl -F [link]

You will get s list of available streams like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------
[youtube] 1xPO2Q2QHXk: Downloading webpage
[info] Available formats for 1xPO2Q2QHXk:
format code extension resolution note
249 webm audio only tiny 53k , webm_dash container, opus @ 53k (48000Hz), 12.65MiB
250 webm audio only tiny 70k , webm_dash container, opus @ 70k (48000Hz), 16.66MiB
140 m4a audio only tiny 129k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@129k (44100Hz), 30.40MiB
251 webm audio only tiny 138k , webm_dash container, opus @138k (48000Hz), 32.45MiB
160 mp4 256x144 144p 21k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400c@ 21k, 25fps, video only, 5.07MiB
278 webm 256x144 144p 44k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 44k, 25fps, video only, 10.54MiB
394 mp4 256x144 144p 52k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.00M.08@ 52k, 25fps, video only, 12.31MiB
133 mp4 426x240 240p 34k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4015@ 34k, 25fps, video only, 8.14MiB
242 webm 426x240 240p 44k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 44k, 25fps, video only, 10.47MiB
395 mp4 426x240 240p 45k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.00M.08@ 45k, 25fps, video only, 10.61MiB
134 mp4 640x360 360p 61k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e@ 61k, 25fps, video only, 14.55MiB
243 webm 640x360 360p 80k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 80k, 25fps, video only, 18.79MiB
396 mp4 640x360 360p 84k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.01M.08@ 84k, 25fps, video only, 19.95MiB
135 mp4 854x480 480p 92k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e@ 92k, 25fps, video only, 21.62MiB
244 webm 854x480 480p 120k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 120k, 25fps, video only, 28.25MiB
397 mp4 854x480 480p 141k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.04M.08@ 141k, 25fps, video only, 33.11MiB
136 mp4 1280x720 720p 159k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401f@ 159k, 25fps, video only, 37.43MiB
247 webm 1280x720 720p 198k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 198k, 25fps, video only, 46.68MiB
398 mp4 1280x720 720p 256k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.05M.08@ 256k, 25fps, video only, 60.19MiB
399 mp4 1920x1080 1080p 435k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.08M.08@ 435k, 25fps, video only, 102.33MiB
137 mp4 1920x1080 1080p 450k , mp4_dash container, avc1.640028@ 450k, 25fps, video only, 105.66MiB
248 webm 1920x1080 1080p 492k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 492k, 25fps, video only, 115.72MiB
18 mp4 640x360 360p 320k , avc1.42001E, 25fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz), 75.17MiB
22 mp4 1280x720 720p 288k , avc1.64001F, 25fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz) (best)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Then you choose the streams you like and download.
If you want best quality MP4 write: youtube-dl -f137+140 [link]
If you want best quality WEBM write: youtube-dl -f248+251 [link]

The rule is to combine best MP4 with M4A and WEBM video with WEBM audio streams. I never use the automatic dl option that downloads "best" stream because in many cases you don't actually get the best quality stream, as you can see from this list [it would download the last one].

 

I don't download much from Youtube, but I use youtube-dl for downloading "interesting videos" from some other "tubes" and "hubs"...

I often use "Video DownloadHelper" add-on to download videos, too. It works in most cases. It's the best add-on for downloading videos I could find and I tested a bunch.

Cheers!

 

I also use Video DownloadHelper. Works quite well.

 

TubeMate Downloader gets the goodies or me. On WIN 10.

 

I guess you are talking about HLS streams ? So here you go... with this FF Add-ons you are able to download almost everything:

https://github.com/rowrawer/stream-detector
https://add0n.com/hls-downloader.html

 

Quote from the web: "Unfortunately, when attempting to download videos from YouTube, TubeMate will not display the download button on some videos. This limitation makes the application feel useless at times as it cannot perform its only purpose and there is no workaround available."

It seems it has some problems. Well, Youtube is trying its best to stop downloading of videos from it. That's why youtube-dl is downloading so slowly lately. It used to be blazingly fast. Now it needs more time to download than to watch. But it doesn't bother me that much. AZ trained well me with all those slow rapidgator and katfile links, I guess.

 

A few years ago I remember I wanted to download videos from askvideo: there were a ton of reason tutorials, cubase, wavelab, and thousands other videos... (I had paid like $12 for a monthly subscription, only unsubscribed a few months later)
...but because i didn't want to only watch it online, i had tried several apps, to try to download those videos.
After several apps, I finally stumbled across a 'replay media catcher'...app, fortunately, there was a 'warez' version available.
The app would install, if I remember well, winpcap... which can directly Intercept what's going in/out from the network card.

I would enter the url for my video, from copy/paste from browser, and would paste it in into the app.
The app would then deep decode the url, even if behind js/etc scripts to prevent direct download, and would display the ultimate, direct url for the video. I would press download, and within a few seconds, the video was downloaded.
If, eg, I copied , not the video url, but the entire course url, the app would manage to grab all the links from all the videos (like it was a short of Playlist).

Recently, I tried to find a recent version, but couldn't find any 'cracked' version.

To answer the question ' why did you have to grab a recent version, and didn't use the older working version ?', the answer is, I lost the zip, I may have deleted it... and only noticed I couldn't find it the day I had to reinstall windows and several apps.

At the end, AFAIK, replay media catcher was the only app that I've used that would allow me to download paid video tutorials.

Before using the app, I had thought about simply screen capturing the video area... but not only the quality would never be the same, but the files would also be huge...

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 20, 2022

I use this extension quite a bit and it's always worked well for me.

Stream Recorder - download HLS as MP4
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stream-recorder-download/iogidnfllpdhagebkblkgbfijkbkjdmm

 

I use OBS to record videos from youtube, not sure if that helps

 

Thanks SineWave, very useful information.

 

Thanks irem 77 for the suggestions and links, much appreciated.

 

Thanks for the suggestion and links.

 

Thanks for introducing me to OBS Studio, I was not aware of this open-source app.

 

Check out yt-dlp. It's a fork of youtube-dl that has many many fixes and improvements, and the download speed problem is fixed.