There are numerous sites that offer downloading of videos from popular video sharing sites such as YouTube and Google Video. However, the videos that you download from these sites are of the .flv or flash video format. Now, you would need a flash video player such as the Riva FLV player to play the video. Or you need a codec pack with the regular players to view the video.

In case you don’t have either, then you may need to convert the video to another format, say .avi, using conversion software and then watch it. To avoid this hassle, I introduce a site called Flvix.

Flvix is a service using which you can convert the videos found on YouTube and Google Video to any of the regular video formats and then download those videos as well.

All you need to know is the URI of the video page. In case of a YouTube video, the URI would be something like http://youtube.com/watch?v=SpwlsCxY7vU

The formats to which the conversion is accepted are:

• .avi
• .mov
• .mp4
• .mp3
• .3gp

That pretty much covers all the standard formats. The 3gp format gives flexibility to mobile phone users as well. The conversion of the file is amazingly fast and the service prepares the converted file for download in a few seconds even on a not-so-fast connection such as mine.

Also, conversion of any other .flv file is also possible using Flvix. But the only condition remains that the file would have to be hosted somewhere and should not be on your PC. I would certainly recommend this site for quick downloads of videos.

What about other sites?

If you want to convert and download videos from other sites such as Metacafe or Break, then you need to do the following

• Note down the URI of the video file. It would be something like http://www.metacafe.com/watch/756433/laser_flashlight_hack/ for a video on Metacafe.
• Go to www.keepvid.com
• Using this URI, get the direct link to the video
• Copy this link and paste it at Flvix
• The conversion is done and the file can be downloaded as usual

I sure hope you found the post useful. Do leave in your comments about the service and how you feel about it. Thanks for reading!

In other news, Enkay Blog is giving away a $100 Mp/Video Player and all you have to do to enter is make a mention of it on your blog, like I did. The contest ends in 3 days, so hurry up with your entries.

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