James Gill / May 20, 2007
Download ANY file from ANY site using Safari.
Listen up Mac users. You may already know this, but I didn't until the other day, and it really comes in handy. Safari has a little tool called the Activity Window, which can be accessed by going to going to "Window > Activity" (shortcut: alt + apple + a). In here you can see every file that the website you are viewing is calling upon. The brilliant thing is that by double clicking any one of these files, it will download straight to your desktop.
Considering you would most likely want to download a file containing video or audio, look in the column on the right to see its size. By process of elimination you will see that the biggest file will be the one you want.
So if you happened to be on YouTube, you could download any video you wanted. Similarly, if you were on MySpace, and had no respect for copyright law, you could download anything you wanted.
This, if you didn't know it already, could save a lot of people a lot of time (and money).
You might also like 165 Vector Icons, 50 Ways to Become a Better Designer, 77 Vector Buttons
GoSquared does not endorse piracy. Please ensure that you use the mentioned functions of Safari as they were intended, and abide by any laws that apply to you.
Joel Laumans said,
May 20, 2007 at 8:32 pm ()
Whoa! Good to know.. never knew that existed.. but then again, I use FFox on the mac...
thanks for the tip though!
++recommend
elmimmo said,
May 21, 2007 at 12:13 pm ()
No QuickTime files, though. Apparently, the plug-in hides info to the browser…
Mam said,
May 21, 2007 at 12:47 pm ()
Similar method with Firefox => http://www.korben.info/telecharger-nimporte-quel-contenu-sur-les-sites-de-diffusions-de-videos-et-mp3.html
Big Joe said,
May 21, 2007 at 12:48 pm ()
Big deal. This is older than dirt news.
Also, you didn't write what to do with the file once it's downloaded. You can't just double click and watch it. Doesn't work that way.
Penter said,
May 21, 2007 at 12:51 pm ()
That's really handy and helpful!! Cheers!
JeffMills said,
May 21, 2007 at 12:54 pm ()
"...and had no respect for copywrite law, you could download anything you wanted."
Just so you know ... you already downloaded it in the first place. All you have to do is move/copy it to another directory. I don't see any copyright issues there.
MarFan said,
May 21, 2007 at 1:29 pm ()
FF has "Page Info" under the tools menu that does the same thing. Thanks for the Safari hint!
D Cootey said,
May 21, 2007 at 1:45 pm ()
Double clicking didn't work for me, but holding down the option key, then double clicking, DID work.
Out of curiosity. Once you have a YouTube vid on your desktop, what program do you use to watch it?
~Douglas
The Splintered Mind - Overcoming Neurological Disabilities With Lots Of Humor And Attitude
Sovok said,
May 21, 2007 at 2:23 pm ()
Nice screenshots :>
R031E5 said,
May 21, 2007 at 2:25 pm ()
You can do this in Firefox too without any extension, just right click the page and go to View Page Info, then click the Media tab and select an element, finally hit the Save As button and voilà!
stephen said,
May 21, 2007 at 5:59 pm ()
files from youtube can be dropped onto the iSquint window and converted to mp4 or other formats. iSquint is a free app. Go to their website to read about it. You can also buy professional versions. Works quite well!
themacthinker said,
May 21, 2007 at 6:37 pm ()
Great tip. I have used it quite a few times.
I actually helps download some file that some websites think that they have hidden...
---------
http://www.mostofmymac.com
Richard said,
May 21, 2007 at 8:58 pm ()
in firefox:
TOOLS>PAGE INFO> MEADIA
this is old, who cares
Paul said,
May 21, 2007 at 9:04 pm ()
I wouldn't exactly say "ANY" file.. PHP is still processed server-side. ;-P
Chris said,
May 21, 2007 at 9:32 pm ()
Actually, with the right plug-in for quicktime (Perian from perian.org), you can just double click a .flv file (flash video, a.k.a. the format youtube uses) or any of quite a few other file types.
Matty said,
May 21, 2007 at 10:49 pm ()
I had trouble downloading a song from peoples myspace pages.
mc said,
May 21, 2007 at 10:00 pm ()
Big Joe is a real bitch.
Chris said,
May 21, 2007 at 11:15 pm ()
Yo, nice article, but-- it's not "alt-apple," it's option-command. The "alt" label is provided for Windows compatibility, and the Apple logo is a holdover from the old Apple II. In the Mac world, these keys are called "option" and "command" respectively. Welcome to Macintosh!
Jason G said,
May 21, 2007 at 11:40 pm ()
I was just looking for a solution like this over the weekend, but ran into a bit of a snag, perhaps someone here can help...
I'm trying to grab the FLV of an NBC video and I can't quite figure out where the heck it's being served from. I found a SMIL file in the network requests:
http://video.nbcuni.com/wtvj/smil/64_30158CC3_3705D_C118D_C1000_3BA864ADF.smil
That SMIL has these FLV file references:
But any URL combo I use doesn't see to result in the FLV, for example you would think this would work:
http://video.nbcuni.com/nbcu/wtvj/64_30158CC3_3705D_C118D_C1000_3BA864ADF_0500.flv
But no such luck. Any ideas?
I've looked around online and read some things about RTMP protocol and not being able to rip FLV's served that way. Know anything about that?
Source page of video for reference: http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=105414
Vinod said,
May 22, 2007 at 6:37 am ()
Can u suggest similar thing for IE.
Corralejo Casique said,
May 22, 2007 at 8:30 am ()
Then,you need to dowload the free media player Wimpy FLV Player,is free, and welcome new videos."VIVA CORRALEJO DURANGO"
by Oscar Lopez(gordito)
Thomas Swift said,
May 22, 2007 at 8:52 am ()
double clicking it, will make it open in a new window if it's something safari will understang, like graphics etc.
subcorpus said,
May 22, 2007 at 10:00 am ()
useful tip ...
thanks for sharing ...
IanTheTall said,
May 22, 2007 at 7:14 pm ()
How funny that I would find something so useful, while looking for information about someone who has the same stage name as your actual name.
Motorcycle Guy said,
May 24, 2007 at 11:41 pm ()
That's awesome that this is built in.
Mitch said,
May 28, 2007 at 1:32 pm ()
Nice tip, but it does not seem to work for .swf (Flash) files. Double-clicking on a .swf file only creates a new window for the Flash file to play in.
Joe said,
May 29, 2007 at 10:41 pm ()
Didn't work for Myspace music.
medications said,
June 5, 2007 at 12:56 pm ()
VERY GOOD WEBSITE!I LIKE IT.
Ramzi said,
June 18, 2007 at 5:54 pm ()
Useless, You just play the downloaded files again, once you close the site you loose the files!!
wohoo said,
June 21, 2007 at 2:04 pm ()
Thanx alot mate now i`m going to save both seasons of Prison Break FLV files, much better than frigging torrents.
Brian said,
July 1, 2007 at 3:09 pm ()
Option (Alt) double click works for Quicktime files.
You can view most file types with VCL at the following
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
x141 said,
July 7, 2007 at 6:58 am ()
Does anyone know any way to do this in IE?
liquidicity said,
July 7, 2007 at 1:54 pm ()
x141, I don't use IE, I'm not sure if anyy one here does, hopefully they can help you ;-)
One recommendation, though - Firefox?
Klimtone said,
July 15, 2007 at 7:16 am ()
For those who had trouble copying from Myspace remember that one has to double-click the "large file" (in the activity window) while it is loading, and then when the loading has just begun, One will then see another window appear. After seeing that the file has loaded, save as "song name.mp3". Double click on that file and it loads into iTunes.
This is usually a crappy mp3 file though. An AIFF or AAC is superior.
I hope this helps.
Dave said,
July 20, 2007 at 2:09 am ()
Thats good information, thanks
Dinks said,
July 20, 2007 at 2:19 pm ()
Firebug to firefox !!
Vardis said,
July 20, 2007 at 4:45 pm ()
Cool!
chic said,
August 5, 2007 at 9:30 pm ()
thanks for all!
I was looking for something to rip myspace music
gastroboy said,
August 14, 2007 at 10:54 pm ()
You forgot to say that it will turn up on your desktop with no extension. You will need to add .flv if it is a flash file and then get Perian to be able to play it in QuickTime.
gastroboy said,
August 14, 2007 at 10:58 pm ()
btw If you can't tell which file is the movie it is usually the largest and yes you do need to hold down the option key whilst you double click on the file name.
Keep in mind that it will be DLing for a second time.
ie it takes twice the DL to get the file. Once in Safari then again for this DL.
Johnny B said,
August 29, 2007 at 1:57 pm ()
I am trying to save an MSN Concert - Crowded House to be exact. They just placed it on their site - I was at the show. Any suggestions?
file2hd said,
August 31, 2007 at 12:07 pm ()
Download any file from any url with file2hd.com
http://file2hd.com
KDY said,
September 2, 2007 at 7:55 pm ()
Extremely helpful information.
Thank you for sharing!
francisco said,
September 4, 2007 at 4:18 am ()
hey, now when i download a video from youtuve using that active thing... how do i open that file cuz i cant, someone tell me, it doesnt have an .exe thing... help
booclan00 said,
September 5, 2007 at 5:01 pm ()
I've tried using all the techniques mentioned but I'm still having no luck downloading. The one I found to be the easiest was the option click technique but the results were a text file instead of video. Please help.
Thanks
Booclan00
michael thomas said,
September 26, 2007 at 6:43 pm ()
i am trying to get this video from this link and i have tried everyway i can think of and nothing is working
http://268generation.com/videoplayer/player.php?videoid=p072&quality=hi
WaltTrombone said,
October 4, 2007 at 2:39 pm ()
Thanks! Great tip! Even though it's old hat to some, it was still new to me. The other comments that pointed me to Perian.org were also great, now I can ditch flvThing, and just use Quicktime Player.
Thanks, all!
Astralis said,
October 4, 2007 at 10:26 pm ()
Impossible to work with the RMTP protocol. Don't waste your time.
donkyk said,
October 7, 2007 at 10:11 pm ()
All you have to do for quiktime files is drag the like in your downloads window. To open down loads window - Window>downloads
Erik said,
October 12, 2007 at 6:00 am ()
Anybody know if obtaining music from Pandora is possible? I'm not sure what the method is.
Thanks!
JT said,
October 12, 2007 at 7:14 pm ()
By the way, for anyone having problems with this method on YouTube videos, an alternative is http://vixy.net.
It can convert FLV and SWF to AVI, MPEG4 or MP3 audio, and process YouTube videos without you having to find the .flv file.
Very useful.
echo said,
October 12, 2007 at 10:23 pm ()
@Erik: I think there used to be a firefox addon (or maybe still is) that could download directly from Pandora, although I'm not aware of any definite methods enabling downloads from Pandora.
Blake Brannon said,
October 30, 2007 at 3:43 am ()
This is an excellent find. Thanks for the help.
sdsd said,
January 13, 2008 at 6:08 pm ()
now want to try
Chris L said,
January 28, 2008 at 4:06 pm ()
Awesome, this is a great tip and certainly new to me and I'm sure many others too! Thanks a million
Jones said,
February 4, 2008 at 5:46 am ()
this is great, thanks a lotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
david said,
March 13, 2008 at 12:30 am ()
doesnt seem to work w/ downloading myspace songs .. using firefox or safari
did they change security or something??
followed instructions in comment #44.. but "save as" is ghosted
My space freind id=197312674 said,
March 14, 2008 at 12:28 am ()
Hrrrmmm
how old is this, doesnt seem to work on mine
i think il just stick to WwW,file2hd,c0m
fix it when you put it into your url
Arif said,
March 29, 2008 at 9:04 am ()
Hey, Hey, now that's handy. Thanks so much for the tip. It helped me download audio discussion of David Allen with his team of the new Getting Starting Module from GTD Connect site.
Cheers!
Arif
Ps. Way-cool screenshots!
Plastonick said,
April 1, 2008 at 10:35 am ()
To anyone wondering:
To veiw the video, simply put it in your movies folder and open up Front Row.
-Plastonick
Plastonick said,
April 1, 2008 at 10:36 am ()
Addition:
Obviously you will have to navigate to that folder from Front Row ;)
-Plastonick
Nykki said,
April 26, 2008 at 10:17 pm ()
I have been trying to save a video from the internet. Now I have tired a few suggestions from here, but nothing works. I used the Safari method, but I have Safari on a PC not Mac. Assuming you MUST have a Mac. I looked at the file2 dot com site. Nada. Any suggestions for a PC user?
MDC said,
April 28, 2008 at 1:16 am ()
it works for me on safari but on firefox i cannot find the video file. How do i do it?
kiko said,
May 15, 2008 at 2:36 am ()
nice soft ware
SamThor said,
June 4, 2008 at 10:43 am ()
How did I miss that? Simple, efficient... Thanks for the tip.
For those who use FireFox, I just found an extension on Mozilla Addons that does a cool job: it's called outwit (see outwit.com). It downloads files and images automatically, you can grab all sorts of data and media very easily. In Google Images, for example it finds the HiRes pictures. Worth trying. http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7271
Hope this helps.
k06a said,
June 7, 2008 at 11:18 am ()
Respect!))) Enough helpful))
Thurana said,
June 17, 2008 at 6:09 pm ()
I just found out that Safari user under PC should use Ctrl+DoubleClick on the file they want to download.
Hope this will help.
P.S: Question for the admin --> about the screenshots, do you use any software (if so, may I know the software) or just edited from ordinary screenshot? Thx.
G said,
June 18, 2008 at 7:18 pm ()
Hi there Thurana,
The screenshots were taken using Grab on OS X, and then edited and aligned using Adobe Illustrator.
We use a consistent in house template to create the indented design that you see on all liquidicity posts.
Thanks ;-)
Sylvie said,
August 8, 2008 at 9:38 am ()
Interesting for SAFARI users. As I'm a Firefox user, I use OutWit Hub, a new and powerful Web collection engine. It helps you download files (pictures, avi video, documents), data table, etc in very few cicks. very simple to use and to grab tons of your favorite pictures.
Hope you will enjoy it
Derick said,
August 15, 2008 at 5:43 pm ()
I'll love to watch live tv online thanks
Mo0m0oSaZn said,
August 31, 2008 at 7:38 pm ()
It didn't work. All it does is open the page a new browser.
Nigel Brock said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:24 pm ()
Copy-write does not usually relate to personal use (UK). Only if you intend to deprive the artist of his just reward. Graphics on the web has usually already been paid for unlike music piracy.
G said,
September 4, 2008 at 11:26 pm ()
Nigel, downloading something for your own use (such as a music video uploaded to YouTube without the artist's permission) can still be in breach of copyright laws (even in the UK).
It is highly likely that no one will ever find out about downloading some files from the web without the copyright owner's permission, but we don't endorse it.
I always think to myself online - "Does this artist deserve my support?" Being a content producer myself I suppose I have learned to appreciate how much effort some people put in to some of the stuff they distribute online.
anwar said,
October 30, 2008 at 9:10 pm ()
thakyou ty
WestIron said,
November 10, 2008 at 8:48 am ()
For Swf file, press command+option+a, then copy the link to Safari's address box, press return, after it can be played, you then press command+shift+s to save as the swf which you need. Next time if you wanna play the swf file again, just drag it to your Safari.
cheer
James said,
November 10, 2008 at 9:11 pm ()
Nice one Westiron, I didn't know that trick. Nice find.
marcellas said,
January 4, 2009 at 3:28 am ()
Thankyou
mike said,
January 25, 2009 at 10:00 am ()
how would you download a particular video such as using live paint and live trace in the illustrator section from here: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/
mike said,
January 25, 2009 at 10:07 am ()
outwit hub crashes firefox when you try to download video from the adobe site.
Bammer said,
January 31, 2009 at 9:24 pm ()
Dude.... Ive been trying to do this and I cant ever get it to work. It always says FORBIDDEN 403.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
saket said,
February 13, 2009 at 2:02 am ()
i am unable to download visualstudo.net video file in .swf format one with u r procedure
when ever double click the .swf file it opens the same link in another page
i am unable download it help
drunkfinger said,
February 28, 2009 at 2:21 pm ()
I've tried using all the techniques mentioned but I'm still having no luck downloading. I've tried the option click technique as well but the results were a text file instead of video. Could you help me please? www.file2hd is out of order I believe.
thanx folks!
PAUL said,
March 21, 2009 at 5:18 am ()
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. You are a complete and utter legend. I was just about to spend who knows how much BUT I read your post and downloaded a big FLV without problems. Cheers.
Ajtgarber said,
April 19, 2009 at 2:08 pm ()
It only opened it on my computer it never downloaded anything
BASSBUGG said,
April 24, 2009 at 4:59 pm ()
HELPPP I WANT TO DOWNLOAD FROM PANDORA
James said,
April 24, 2009 at 6:03 pm ()
OK after a few people complaining here and there I think a few things have changed since the publishing of this post.
Safari 4 (and later versions of Safari 3) have almost certainly adapted the Activity Window to make it more difficult to download files simply by double clicking. I am not sure it is impossible now, but it is definitely not always as easy as it was when this post was written.
Also, this does not work on every site - sites like Pandora are obviously paranoid about people like us (and you) downloading the music that they stream for free and don't want to lose any trust that they may have been lucky enough to gain with the record labels. Don't be surprised if sites like Pandora are going out of their way to make it near impossible for anything to be downloaded, and for download-able files to be of a playable format once on your computer.
I hope you understand, but just remember - where there's a will there's a way. Keep searching! Peace.
anda said,
May 29, 2009 at 9:30 pm ()
pleaaaaaaasee heeeeeelp....so...i download something from safari in my ipod....and when the download end she said: " you're file is in the download folder....well i don't know where is the download folder in my ipod touch...please help! please please please i'm desperead!!!!!!!!! thanks
solo said,
July 30, 2009 at 6:52 am ()
worked for me bro on windows safari 4.0. Thanks I was looking for a plugin to do this
MiiSan said,
August 29, 2009 at 2:24 am ()
It dosen't work on imeem T_T
When I click on the flv file it shows me "404 not found"
Thanks anyway ^^
Theo said,
October 15, 2009 at 4:40 pm ()
You might have to hold down the alt and cmd key then double click, thats what worked for me
lewis said,
October 24, 2009 at 3:58 am ()
Thanks thanks! works great in safari 4.0.3! Thanks again!
thisis9 said,
October 24, 2009 at 4:55 am ()
Question: I can not detect any of those flash video files when they're streamed/played with JW Flash Player in a website in Safari. Because of that, I can not download them. With files played by Adobe Flash Player, you can detect this video files easily (monitoring Activity window in Safari) and just grab them. Solution, any one? Thanks.
unknown said,
November 4, 2009 at 4:04 pm ()
i want to download this software
Frankie said,
December 13, 2009 at 10:57 pm ()
To you having trouble downloading things (small files or youtube-concerts): try Realplayer. In IE it installs it self as a plugin giving u the opportunity to save. After that u can convert it to the most used media types ie. mp3.
vickie MS said,
January 7, 2010 at 12:12 am ()
my god...i have been having absolutely NO LUCK whatsoever...i really would like to save this vid to show my friend - and i have no idea how to do so...this is the link where the vid is at. (no, my Activity doesnt work either...i cant even find the vid on the list - which is what i always do with youtube vids)
http://www.jackassworld.com/blog/2010/01/01/happy-new-year/
yes..i know the vid is silly - but if someone could help with the saving/downloading bit - i"d be very grateful!
and happy new year!
Trackbacks said,
March 22, 2010 at 4:11 am ()