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The following instructions will show you how to save videos from YouTube as .flv files so that you can play them on your computer (offline)! Prerequisites: These instructions are for saving YouTube videos while using the Mozilla Firefox web browser. The browser add-on used to save the embedded video file is only available for Firefox. 1. Download and install Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/) if you have not already done so. 2. After installing Firefox then go to http://www.downloadhelper.net/ and install the DownloadHelper extension. 3. Go to YouTube OR any other site that has an embedded video that you would like to save to your computer. 4. Start playing the video and while the video is playing click on the drop-down menu (the black arrow) beside the DownloadHelper icon. See below. 
5. Choose the video that you wish to download. When you click on a video it will either automatically be saved to your Desktop OR you will be prompted to specify a save location. For some videos there will only be one choice, while for others there may be different resolutions available. See the example below: 6. Save the video file to your computer. 7. The file you download will most likely be either a .flv or a .mp4 file. To play .flv files you will need to download and install the VLC media player. (See below.) If the file is a .m4p file then you will need iTunes to play it. *Note: Once iTunes is installed VLC will also play .flv files. Playing .flv Files on Your Computer1. Download and install the VLC media player from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/. (VLC is a free and open source media player that will play almost any media file that can be played on your computer by other media players. (The appropriate codecs must be installed on your computer to play some media.) 2. Open VLC and then open the video from the File menu. OR change the properties for .flv files on your computer so that they always open with VLC. For instructions on how to do this on a Mac see my article Changing the Default Application Used to Open Files on Mac OS X.
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Tips and Instructions 
