"Activity window" in Safari no longer works to download YouTube videos. Why not? Workaround?

For years I have used Apple's recommended standard technique whenever I wanted to download a Flash video embedded in a YouTube page to my hard drive:
- Open a YouTube page and click on the video's "play" button to get it started;
- Press command-option-A to then open up Safari's "Activity Window" which lists all the components of the page;
- Find on the list the component for the loading Flash video, which is usually much larger (measured in MB rather than KB) than all the other components, and also is usually still in the process of loading, so it's easy to spot;
- Double-click the component's name on the list in the Activity Window, and voila, the video downloads to my hard drive.
This "trick" is described everywhere as THE standard way to download YouTube videos (and similar page components); and I have used it successfully for many years.
HOWEVER, sometime very recently (not sure when, exactly -- a few weeks or months ago) YouTube has changed the way its pages are coded, so that this technique no longer works. When I open the Activity Window, instead of seeing one large loading video file that's easily identifiable, I see a whole series of large files, all exactly 1.7mb big (no matter how large the file size of the actual video in question is), and they constantly increase in number -- at first there are two such files, but over the seconds and minutes more and more appear. Furthermore, many files with no named size are constantly loading and then disappearing. And here's the whole point: I've tried double-clicking on ALL of these files, dozens of ways on dozens of YouTube pages, and none of the are the video file I seek and none of them cause the file to  download to my hard drive.
If I click on one the mysterious 1.7mb components, I indeed get a ".flv" downloaded to my hard drive, but it's not actually a Flash video; clicking on its downloaded file icon just brings up a blank box or an error message saying that it's not really a video file at all. I think it's some sort of "decoy" file or something to do with streaming Flash code.
To see what I mean, just go to YouTube, load any random video page, and then open Safari's Activity WIndow and try to download the video that way.
This happens on an iMac running Safari 5.1 on OSX 10.6.8, and also on a MacBook Pro running Safari 5.0.2  on OSX 10.6.5, and on a few other new-ish Macs I tested it out on, but failed to note their version numbers.
I'm presuming that this problem is not specific to my computer, but is caused by the way that YouTube altered the background code for their pages. I don't know if the glitch is an intentional attempt by YouTube to prevent downloads, or if it is an accidental "bug" of the new code. Either way:
How can I fix the problem? Is there some other lesser-known built-in way for Safari/Mac to download the new kind of YouTube videos? Or is there some reliable freeware or shareware or plug-in or extension or whatever for Safari that would enable YouTube downloading?
I tried a freeware program called "Evom" that was highly touted, but it too was thwarted by the new YouTube code and failed to extract any videos from the YouTube page, even though that's what the application was designed to do.
As a side note, I will say that I also have (though rarely use) FireFox for Mac, and the "Unplug" plug-in installed on it, and that ALSO "broke" recently and no longer has the capacity to recognize or download YouTube videos, even though previously it worked fine. This is why I think the issue is not specific to my set-up or computer, but is due to a change in YouTube's underlying code.)
Any help with an explanation, solution or workaround would be much appreciated (by me and by millions of others who I assume are facing the same problem!).

Carolyn:
I just now did exactly as you recommended. Result? No change.
Even after trashing the files and restarting and everything else, the Activity Window and YouTube behave exactly as they did before.
(I had actually previously tried something very similar to your recommendation, and it didn't have any effect then either.)
In case it's helpful, here's an example of what one of the mystery components that load endlessly in the Activity Window is listed as:
http://s.youtube.com/s?rendering=software&lact=102489&decoding=&rt=112.382&et=11 0.829&tsphab=1&st=69.939&tspne=0&tspfdt=262&nsiabblmin=62945.000&nsidf=2&tabsb=1 &ad_flags=0&h=360&nsiabblmean=72646.865&md=1&docid=zPxFu7taftE&bc=15194849&csipt =watch5ad&ad_event=3&el=detailpage&hasstoryboard=1&vid=72A5TVVpDgRoXDV3HvMeKPjLx BFdU61DC&fmt=34&cr=US&sd=BD075E8E6HH1336502192683396&vtmp=1&nsiabblmax=79054.000 &hl=en_US&ns=yt&nsivbblmax=774478.000&referrer=None&sidx=0&hbd=7790924&w=480&hbt =2.751&cid=6&sendtmp=1&sst=0&cfps=25.974025974025974&screenw=1440&mt=0.6&vq=auto &playerw=640&playerh=390&slots=sst~0;sidx~0;at~2_3&scoville=1&at=2_3&volume=100& art=1.842&mos=0&plid=AAS_iqoqfi0mjNc0&fs=0&nsivbblc=208&nsivbblmin=561638.000&bd =931267&allowed=1_1,1_3,2_1,2_3&bt=7.441&fvid=bNz97ILtwqc&screenh=900&len=127.92 &vw=480&nsivbblmean=668895.024&nsiabblc=208&vh=360&fexp=912001,914050,913539,919 306,907217,901802,906507
And here's one of the 1.7MB components:
http://o-o.preferred.comcast-lax1.v11.lscache8.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?range =1781760-3563519&expire=1336524839&id=ccfc45bbbb5a7ed1&burst=40&cm2=0&sver=3&upn =I_VxE0Lmh4Y&keepalive=yes&ipbits=8&algorithm=throttle-factor&itag=34&sparams=al gorithm%2Cburst%2Ccp%2Cfactor%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire& source=youtube&signature=6F9B5B2CA58ACBA6AFE02FB8A54F1F74EE2B0F16.8E421BC37C3019 E806C22CF3E8866847D033565C&factor=1.25&ip=71.0.0.0&cp=U0hSS1VNUl9IU0NOMl9NR1ZJOm lxNTVmbm1vcDlO&key=yt1&fexp=912001%2C914050%2C901802%2C906507%2C907217%2C919306% 2C913539

Similar Messages

  • Formerly I could download YouTube videos by double clicking the largest size page element in the Safari activity window address column. Now in V 5.0.5 page elements are not shown, just the page title, and under that about:blank.  Suggestions? Thanks.

    Formerly I could download YouTube videos by double clicking the largest size page element in the Safari activity window address column . Now in V 5.0.5 page elements are not shown, just the page title, and under that "about:blank".  Also, the activity window used to show sequential activity and now each new page replaces the last. Thanks for any suggestions re how to restore previous activity window function.

    Not all YouTube videos are available for downloading, but:
    There is the Free  iTube Grabber which can capture almost any audio and/or video stream (it says here) but only works with Intel Macs.
    http://itube-grabber.en.softonic.com/mac
    Firefox Download Helper is also supposed to work, you have to be logged into YouTube first.
    and the RealPlayer Downloader that comes with RealPlayer SP for Mac from:
    http://www.real.com/realplayer/mac
    which also downloads videos from YouTube.
    There is also iTubeX which allows you to download videos (Flash, HTML5 and others), .mp3 and .swf files from almost every website as easily as possible:
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/27604/itubex
    Lastly: How to download Flash videos and play them in Quicktime using Perian is explained here:
    http://perian.org/#watch
    It's the video at the bottom of the page.

  • How do I get the activity window in safari 6.0.2?

    How do I get the activity window in safari 6.0.2?

    Safari 6
    Activity Window is no more available in Safari 6.
    Apple removed that feature.
    Best.

  • What happened to the Activity window in Safari?

    there is no more Activity window in Safari.  What happened and how can I geet it back?

    In Safari 6 in preferences you navigate to the advanced menu and click on the "Show develop menu in menu bar" and you should be able to see much of what is in the page. It certainly is not what we are used to and there are certainly a number of strange changes i am not sure developers have tested on the average user before implementing.

  • Where is the activity windows in safari 6?

    Where is the activity windows in safari 6?

    I miss it too.  I used it all time and now its gone.  Apple, please bring it back in Safari 6.1!

  • Why can't I access Activity window in Safari ?

    Hello everybody,
    I was trying to download a youtube video using activity window in Safari. However, I am not able to access Activity Window in Safari by keyboard shortcut "Cmd + option + A".
    Can anybody please help me out ?
    Thanks in advance.
    Pratik Patel

    Does Anybody know a replacement for the Great Activity monitor ???

  • As soon as I downloaded Firefox 4, my Roboform no longer worked. Roboform says it's not compatible so I need to buy an update from them. How can I download Firefox 3 again?

    As soon as I downloaded Firefox 4, my Roboform no longer worked. Roboform says it's not compatible so they want me to buy an update from them...don't want to do that. How can I download Firefox 3 again?

    What you are seeing sounds like the "advertised update" from Firefox 3.6 versions to Firefox 8.0.1 that started on 2011-12-01. See --> https://wiki.mozilla.org/Releases/Firefox_3.6_MU
    This is the same as has occurred when prior versions were nearing their end-of-life. Support for Firefox 3.6 versions is likely to end in the first quarter of 2012.
    There are changes in the interface from Firefox 3.6 to Firefox 4 and newer versions. See --> https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/common-questions-after-updating-firefox
    The new Firefox version can be made to closely resemble the 3.6 Firefox interface.
    #See --> http://www.computertechtips.net/64/make-firefox-4-look-like-ff-3-6/
    #See --> http://blog.fligtar.com/2011/01/16/how-to-customize-firefox-4s-ui/
    #See --> '''''Firefox 3 Theme for Firefox 4''''': https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-3-theme-for-firefox/
    #*Add color home, back/forward and other buttons (like Firefox 3) to the Navigation Toolbar in place of the gray buttons in Firefox 4
    #*See: http://ffaddons.game-point.net/ff3ff4/
    #Also see --> http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How+to+customize+the+toolbar
    The only currently supported versions are 3.6.24 and 8.0.1. Firefox 9.0 will be released on or about 2011-12-20 and will completely replace Firefox 8.0.1; an update to Firefox 3.6.25 from Firefox 3.6.24 will likely occur around that same time to correct any new security/stability issues found in Firefox 3.6.24.
    '''If this reply solves your problem, please click "Solved It" next to this reply when <u>signed-in</u> to the forum.'''

  • Youtube videos do not run on Safari 7.0.5

    After new OS X update 10.9.4, Youtube videos do not run on Safari 7.0.5. It always give error "an error occurred, please try later. LEARN MORE". While I can watch the video using Google Chrome Browser on Mac.
    I have tried resetting Safari, opted out of Google HTML5 player trial as well. I also updated Adobe Flash Player but nothing work. Please help me run Youtube videos on safari again. Thank you.

    It should work on v10.9.4 and Safari 7.0.5 ...
    Open System Preferences > Flash Player then select the Advanced tab.
    Click Delete All under Browsing Data and Settings
    Then from your Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Privacy tab.
    Click: Remove All Website Data
    Then delete the Safari cache.
    Open a Finder window. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
    Type or copy paste the following
    ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db
    Click Go then move the Cache.db file to the Trash.
    Quit and relaunch Safari to test.
    If nothing above helped, troubleshoot Safari extensions.
    From the Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Extensions tab. Turn that OFF, quit and relaunch Safari to test.
    If that helped, turn one extension on then quit and relaunch Safari to test until you find the incompatible extension then click uninstall.

  • How to download youtube video in Mp4 format from safari ?

    Does anybody knows how to put link and when video plays just click on it and it will download. I had that option a while ago and cant find the way to make it again. Or if you know any other way....

    Using Safari 5.0.1 and Snow Leopard I used part of what I found online and stumbled across the final solution indicated by brackets {}
    From <http://mac-dvd.com/mac-guide/how-to-download-youtube-video-on-mac-for-free.htm l>
    Step 1: Download the videos
    1. Find your favorite YouTube video. This step is pretty self explanatory. Be sure to use Safari and search for your favorite YouTube Video. {Select 720 p or greater.}
    2. Next, you need to go to 'Window' and down to Activity. Click on 'Activity' to bring up the next dialog box.
    3. Once the dialog box has popped up you need to look for the YouTube page among all the page titles and files listed in the window.
    4. Once you locate it and expand all the activities going on in the page, look for the largest file size (this is shown in the right hand side). Most of the files found in a YouTube page are small files while most FLV files are several megabytes.
    Once you locate the largest file,
    What I found out:
    {Hold down the SHIFT OPTION key and double click on it. The video should start downloading in your download and be named videoplayback.mp4.}
    What I found out in the videos I tested is that if you did not use 720p or higher, SHIFT OPTION double clicking or just double clicking on the large file in the activity window downloaded an FLV file, which you then have to convert to mp4.
    Hope this helps.
    Message was edited by: James Mol

  • Youtube video is not working in my nokia c6

    hello sir..!
    online youtube video is not working in my nokia c6. It only shows the flash symbol only. How can i solve this problem. Please say the solution for this.

    Hi prasu7, 
    Thanks for your post. 
    Have you tried opening the videos from the YouTube application too? 
    Is your device updated to the lastest version? If yes, I advise you to reinstall the software. You may update and reinstall device's software from the updates tab in Nokia Suite. 
    Let us know how you get on and feel free to post any other questions you may have. 
    Press the 'Accept Solution' icon if I have solved your problem, Kudos my post if my advice has helped you!

  • I have windows 8.1 and firefox won't play youtube videos but IE will

    I have windows 8.1 and firefox won't play youtube videos but IE will. I have tried reinstalling firefox, flash, java. Resetting firefox don't help, disabled hardware acceleration, protected mode 0 in the mms.cfg file. Nothing will play on youtube in firefox. It says "an error has occured, please try again later". The ads play fine though. Everything plays fine in IE. I have tried different versions of flash also with no luck. I even restored the system to a previous iso image with no luck. Does anyone have a solution?

    It maybe because your javascript is disabled .
    You can check the javascript.enabled pref on the about:config page.
    http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config
    There are also extensions that can block JavaScript or otherwise interfere.
    https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
    Or,
    "Clear the Cache":
    Firefox > Preferences > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"
    "Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:
    Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Cookies: "Show Cookies"
    Start Firefox in [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode Safe Mode] to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
    '''''Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.'''''
    https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
    https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
    please report us if any problem.

  • I used to watch n download YouTube videos on Firefox till ystday. Now, the videos wont play and the download stopped working, while the videos do play on Chrome

    I used to watch and download YouTube videos on Firefox. Since yesterday, videos have stopped loading, and an error message is shown saying videos can't be played. When I click on the download button, a new page pops up (which never used to happen before) which says "Server not found: Firefox can't find the server at r12---sn-h557sne7.googlevideo.com."
    I have tried almost all suggestions found in various forums. The problem is not yet rectified. Its irritating.

    You can try these steps in case of issues with web pages:
    You can reload web page(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.
    *Hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
    *Press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
    *Press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)
    Clear the cache and cookies only from websites that cause problems.
    "Clear the Cache":
    *Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"
    "Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:
    *Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"
    Start Firefox in <u>[[Safe Mode|Safe Mode]]</u> to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
    *Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
    *Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
    *https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
    *https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

  • Netflix, HBO Go, ABC Tv app on my apple tv take a long time to download my videos and they are choppy, how can I resolve this issue? My apple TV is running off of WiFi in my apartment.

    Netflix, HBO Go, ABC TV along with other apple TV apps, take a very long time to download the video and they are choppy when running. My apple TV runs off of WiFi in my apartment. When trying to download updates, it take a long time and then a video screen with "This Update was not Successful. Apple TV couldn't be downloaded at this time. Try again later." What can I do to resolve this issue? I purchased this apple TV in May 2013 new.

    That will be an issue with the network
    What is your current connection via speedtest.net?
    Make sure DNS is set to auto (settings - general -network)
    Since you are in an apartment the local wifi network is more prone to interference, try ethernet

  • How to download Youtube videos on Safari 6.0.5?

    I got a Macbook Air (Mid 2013) with OS X (10.8.4). I'm using Safar 6.0.5
    Can somebody please tell me how to download youtube videos using this web browser?
    Thanks!

    Clip Grab is not functioning well. Some of the downloads come to halt abruptly in between. Some others dont download completely, though Clipgrab shows they are 'completely downloaded'
    Anyother solution?

  • Where's The Activity Window in Safari 6?

    ?

    I tried re-installing 5.1.7 but it immediately crashes now. Switching the Safari 6 file for the 5.17 file isn't enough; there are probably other files that need to be downgraded also but I didnt want to play around with that. I have found a weird, obtuse work-around, though.
    1.      Enable the Developer menu under Preference...Advanced.
    2.      Open the Web Inspector BEFORE you get to the page with the movie you want to save. You can actually go to the page first, then open the inspector, then hit back then forward to reload the movie page. Just hitting reload may also work.
    3.      In the left-most pane there will be a list of folders; one should be titled "Other". Reload the page to get this folder if it's not there. I don't know what to tell you if there is no "Other" folder.
    4.      Click the triangle to open the Other folder.
    5.      One of the things listed in Other should be the movie file; click on it.
    6.      In the right-most pane the full url of the movie willl be listed. Copy this URL just like you would've from the activity window.
    This has worked for me. I'd rather have the Activity window back.

Maybe you are looking for