How to retrieve youtube videos from your browser's cache?

I'll tell you some working methods to download youtube videos withoug having any particular software. But before that just read about the main issues.

I know you have tried many ways to download your favourite youtube video to your hard drive. you may have used many tools for that. But suddenly on one day, your fav tools stop working. Why? Because, youtube changes their technology time to time in caching the videos in your browser. There are many Gnu/Linux based application to download youtube. Clive, gvdown are best examples. My favourite application was Clive. Anyway Clive is no longer works in my machine. To use Clive any longer, I have to upgrade it or re-install it. So I decided to get them without any software. How could I do that?

Whatever file to run in your computer from the internet, it has to cache it first in the local system. May it be a png or gif, flv or mp3 it has to do so. So the site, caches the file in the temp location of your system. In the case of youtube video, you have to find where the file is cached in your local system. Its that simple. Once you find where is the file is cached, you almost got the file. Before proceeding you have to understand the following things to operate.

1. Find out the way to view all cache files in your Mozilla Firefox browser
2. Find out the way to view all cache files in your Computer (Gnu/Linux or Windows or Mac etc)

As of today, you can retrieve the video simply if you correctly follow the following steps

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and in the address bar type as "about:cache" (without quotes)
2. In "Memory cache device", click on "List Cache Entries"
3. Using Firefox "Find" tool, locate your youtube video.
4. Click on a "Key" heavy file size. (say 3725647 bytes)
5. Then you will get enough info on that particular key. Just Right-click on the key and save to the hard disk
6. By default, the file name will be "videoplayback". Rename it with a .flv extension
7. Play it with Mplayer or vlc player
8. If you wish to convert as mp3 or any other formats, use ffmpg.
9. The command to convert as
   ffmpeg -i inpuvvideofile.flv outputaudiofile.mp3
   
10. Thats all. Any doubts?
    

Interaction with RMS

It was on 9th of September 2010. I was anxiously waiting for this day to attend the function in which Richard Matthew Stallman delivering a speech at St. Joseph's College of Engineering and Technology, Palai. The speech was great. I Started from home very early along with my friends at ILUG Cochin. We reached there some hours before the speech. The function was organized amazingly by the Computer Engineering Students. The students started a FSUG (Free Software User Group) in their college and they named it as Swathanthra.in
RMS explained concepts and philosophy of the revolutionary os GNU/Linux. His two hour lecture was really great. He talked about Free-software. He talked about freedom. The ceremonial funny drama had taken place here too, RMS wore a black gown and an old CD as cap and said “I am St. Ignucius of the Church of Emacs and I bless your computer, my child. Long may you run.” In the Q&A session, I wrote a question to him and he answered it very passionately. The question was this -" you totally against to Open Source initiatives and FOSS. The question is asked in the background of a project like OPEN DRM". He answered that he is not AGAINST. Whatever the term may be, the core issue is FREEDOM. After answering the question, he added that "This is a good question". And I did know that he may comment something good to that question, because I have read there were a project like "Open DRM" was in serious consideration in some open source communities, which RMS clearly expressed his strong disapproval against such stupid projects. Even there were some Open Malwares! That question can be extended to such distros like Damn Vulnerable Linux (DVL).

After the speech, ILUG Cochin got a chance to meet RMS in person. We took some photographs with him. Anyway, it was my first experience with such an eminent person in the Free Software Community, and the experience was great.