How does YouTube use the cache?

[Richard Fangnail]

I think when you download a YouTube video is uses the browser cache.
But when I view one and come back to it later, it starts loading it
all over again. Isn't that against the purpose of the cache?

 

[John H Meyers]

I think when you download a YouTube video is uses the browser cache.
But when I view one and come back to it later, it starts loading it
all over again. Isn't that against the purpose of the cache?

Many files are intended to be played, but not to be downloaded and saved,
so the plugin (flash player) deletes them upon exiting the page.

Some are easy to keep anyway; others harder.

--

 

[WindPipe]

I think when you download a YouTube video is uses the browser cache.
But when I view one and come back to it later, it starts loading it
all over again. Isn't that against the purpose of the cache?

Don't know how it uses the cache, but a copy of the video file is stored in (WinXP typical
install) <drive_letter>:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\... Sub folders beneath it named like '2ZKFWSSB'. If you sort by size
(descending), they will usually (not always) be the largest files and appear at the top of the
list, and named as such, get_video[1], get_video[2], .., get_video[n]. You can copy them out
from the cache folders, rename them to something more meaningful to you, or the clip, and put a
'.flv' extension after the name.

You can then view the clips using either Nero ShowTime (version 4, from Nero 8 plays them, not
always in my case), Winamp 5.52 (not always in my case), or FLV Player 1.3.3 will always play
them without fail.

- WindPipe.

 

[Richard Fangnail]

RichardFangnailwrote:

I think when you download a YouTube video is uses the browser cache.
But when I view one and come back to it later, it starts loading it
all over again. Isn't that against the purpose of the cache?

Don't know how it uses the cache, but a copy of the video file is stored in (WinXP typical
install) <drive_letter>:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\... Sub folders beneath it named like '2ZKFWSSB'. If you sort by size
(descending), they will usually (not always) be the largest files and appear at the top of the
list, and named as such, get_video[1], get_video[2], .., get_video[n]. You can copy them out
from the cache folders, rename them to something more meaningful to you, or the clip, and put a
'.flv' extension after the name.

You can then view the clips using either Nero ShowTime (version 4, from Nero 8 plays them, not
always in my case), Winamp 5.52 (not always in my case), or FLV Player 1.3.3 will always play
them without fail.

- WindPipe.

Is that also true if you're using Firefox or just IE?

 

[WindPipe]

Hello Richard,

This is the case for IE. Firefox works a little differently in it's file storage. Depending on
your install, I used 'Firefox.exe -profilemanager' to set up my configuration, but in general
the principle is the same, i.e;

<drive_letter>\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\local Settings\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[xyz]\Cache

Where[xyz] is something like skd1jj0.<user_name>, eg;

D:\Documents and Settings\WindPipe\local Settings\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\skd1jj0.WindPipe\Cache

If you haven't set up Firefox using the Profile Manager i.e, 'Firefox.exe -profilemanager', look
for the folders 'Firefox\Profiles', then the Cache folder should be somewhere under there. In
this Cache folder Firefox will place a copy of the YouTube clips in what appears to be a
randomly generated alpha-numeric file name, without any extensions, eg, '5A414386d01'. The
YouTube ones will often be larger than the other so you can sort descending by size again.

Again change the name to something meaningful, and put a .flv extension to it.

Hope this helps ya'.

- WindPipe

RichardFangnailwrote:

I think when you download a YouTube video is uses the browser cache.
But when I view one and come back to it later, it starts loading it
all over again. Isn't that against the purpose of the cache?

Don't know how it uses the cache, but a copy of the video file is stored in (WinXP typical
install) <drive_letter>:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\... Sub folders beneath it named like '2ZKFWSSB'. If you sort by size
(descending), they will usually (not always) be the largest files and appear at the top of the
list, and named as such, get_video[1], get_video[2], .., get_video[n]. You can copy them out
from the cache folders, rename them to something more meaningful to you, or the clip, and put a
'.flv' extension after the name.

You can then view the clips using either Nero ShowTime (version 4, from Nero 8 plays them, not
always in my case), Winamp 5.52 (not always in my case), or FLV Player 1.3.3 will always play
them without fail.

- WindPipe.

Is that also true if you're using Firefox or just IE?

 

[Onsokumaru]

You can get firefox plugins that will download video clips from some sites
like YouTube.

 

[WindPipe]

You can get firefox plugins that will download video clips from some sites
like YouTube.

Many thanks Onsokumaru, got it at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006, much more
convenient.

- WindPipe

 

[Richard Fangnail]

Hello Richard,

This is the case for IE. Firefox works a little differently in it's file storage. Depending on
your install, I used 'Firefox.exe -profilemanager' to set up my configuration, but in general
the principle is the same, i.e;

<drive_letter>\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\local Settings\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[xyz]\Cache

Where[xyz] is something like skd1jj0.<user_name>, eg;

D:\Documents and Settings\WindPipe\local Settings\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\skd1jj0.WindPipe\Cache

If you haven't set up Firefox using the Profile Manager i.e, 'Firefox.exe -profilemanager', look
for the folders 'Firefox\Profiles', then the Cache folder should be somewhere under there. In
this Cache folder Firefox will place a copy of the YouTube clips in what appears to be a
randomly generated alpha-numeric file name, without any extensions, eg, '5A414386d01'. The
YouTube ones will often be larger than the other so you can sort descending by size again.

Again change the name to something meaningful, and put a .flv extension to it.

Hope this helps ya'.

Wind,

Thanks for that. I've never been clear on whether you can save
youtube clips always this way, or just sometimes.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Thanks for that. I've never been clear on whether you can save
youtube clips always this way, or just sometimes.

Wanna save Youtube videos?

Take the URL for the clip you like, and paste it here:

http://keepvid.com/

Click the download link.

 

[Richard Fangnail]

You can then view the clips using either Nero ShowTime (version 4, from Nero 8 plays them, not
always in my case), Winamp 5.52 (not always in my case), or FLV Player 1.3.3 will always play
them without fail.

- WindPipe.

Why can't we open flv files with the browser? After all, the browser
must have Flash in order to play YouTube videos.

 

[WindPipe]

Why can't we open flv files with the browser? After all, the browser
must have Flash in order to play YouTube videos.

I know in general you can do this with *.swf (swiff) files, with *.flv (flash Video) files
you'll need a bit of coding (HTML,...) to make this happen, don't really know why though, just
what you need to do.

If you haven't already, download FLV Player 1.3.3, if you can, it's light weight and plays all
downloaded *.flv files from YouTube without fail.

- WindPipe

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

If you haven't already, download FLV Player 1.3.3, if you can, it's light weight and plays all
downloaded *.flv files from YouTube without fail.

But it doesn't cache them where they can be found.

Try this:

http://keepvid.com/

 

[WindPipe]

But it doesn't cache them where they can be found.

Try this:

http://keepvid.com/

Cool, thanks Uncle Grumpy.

- WindPipe

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Do you know how to keep just the audio part of
a YouTube video? There's a song that I really like,
and it's part of a video which I couldn't care less about.
All I want to keep is the audio.

*TimDaniels*

 

[WaIIy]

Do you know how to keep just the audio part of
a YouTube video? There's a song that I really like,
and it's part of a video which I couldn't care less about.
All I want to keep is the audio.

*TimDaniels*

Here ya go - works great

http://www.eartmedia.com/flv-audio-extractor/index.html

Flv Audio Extractor is a easy-to-use free tool to batch extract audio
from flv files. The extracted audio data will be saved as MP3 file so
you can play it with Windows Media Player or other audio players. Simply
drag and drop your flv files or click the 'Add' button to add files to
extract. Then please click the 'Extract' button to get the MP3 files -
Normally it will only take several seconds!

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Here ya go - works great

http://www.eartmedia.com/flv-audio-extractor/index.html

Flv Audio Extractor is a easy-to-use free tool to batch
extract audio from flv files. The extracted audio data will
be saved as MP3 file so you can play it with Windows
Media Player or other audio players. Simply drag and drop
your flv files or click the 'Add' button to add files to extract.
Then please click the 'Extract' button to get the MP3 files -
Normally it will only take several seconds!

Thanks! You have saved the Internet bandwidth from my
repeated downloads.

*TimDaniels*

 

[John H Meyers]

You can then view the clips using either Nero ShowTime
(version 4, from Nero 8 plays them, not always in my case),
Winamp 5.52 (not always in my case),
or FLV Player 1.3.3 will always play them without fail.

IrfanView now also plays FLV files
http://www.irfanview.net/

FLV player has been updated
http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/flv-player/

--