Lately the YouTube team at Google has been working hard on improving the YouTube experience in terms of features and I must say they have done well so far. You can now enjoy videos in a whole new 16:9 widescreen format and can even watch videos in High-Definition (HD).
Previously a lot of users have accused YouTube for providing a low-quality video experience but even then YouTube remains to be the most famous online social network for videos.
A while back we shared a trick for downloading any YouTube video as an MP4 file which could be transferred to your mobile, iPhone or iPod directly but today we have a trick that will allow you to download YouTube HD videos in High-Definition (Better quality).
Drag the following bookmarklet to your browser’s Bookmarks toolbar or simply copy its link and create a new Bookmark yourself.
Once you are on a YouTube video that has an HD format available, click the bookmarklet and the download should begin. To know whether a YouTube video is available in HD or not, look for the Watch in HD link below the video.
Also you can browse through a list of videos available on YouTube in HD. Please note! this hack is different to the one shared by us previously which would only let you download a video in MP4 format but not in HD.
Saad Hamid is a blogger and technology enthusiast from Pakistan. Connect with him on
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
You can also use vid23.com … it’s easier
Thanks for the bookmarklet! Works like a charm, and much more convenient than separate programs.
Minimum requirements for creating HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGwCfONnnR4
Doesn’t work here, just opens a blank page
Works Great
Still works of 2009-Mar-23. Just tested with the Where The Hell is Matt? (2008) video. Thanks!
I like the drag-and-drop bookmarklet. I had read about bookmarklets that do this but didn’t know how to use them. You made it really easy. Worked great. Thanks.
This allowed me to fetch HOME in HD quality on 2009-06-08. Thanks a lot!
weeeee works nice
!!!
Es lo que andaba buscando, más facil imposible, muchas gracias, sin tener que abrir ninguna ventana nueva donde pegar el enlace.
Thanx a million. Worked great. I kept trying to download the HD version of the “Home project” movie but all I could get from 3rd party software or webistes was a 419megs movie, which had a 520×219 resolution. Once I clicked this, he started downloading a 1,5gigs movie which am I sure it is the real deal. Thanx again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
Wow.
Thank you so much. works fantastic.
Awsome Tip ! Thanks a bunch !
Works nice and easy, and saves time
Works nice and easy, and saves time
great work thanks a lot for the info.
simply super brosss
it really works u had made my life heaven
thankssssssssssss
doesn't work here on a Mac OS X 10.4.11 with FF305
you are excellent dude.. thanks a lot.. for this wonderfull hack.. love you a million.. keep rocking buddy…. gr8 work
the easiest way : http://www.live-downloader.com/
Doesnt work. Tried it on a YT vid with HD, didnt do anything when clicked. I have firefox 3.5.7
Doesnt work. Tried it on a YT vid with HD, didnt do anything when clicked. I have firefox 3.5.7
go to youtube video in Firefox – with HTTPwatch on, click play, a list of resolutions will appear, select the desired resolution, watch for an mime type of video/mp4 to appear in the httpwatch, right mouse click the url and select copy “http://whateverhteurlis.com”, paste the url into another browser, while its loading hit “file/save page as ” and now your downloading.
kind of a pain
@Lazerous
I use DownloadHelper in firefox. 3 clicks and the video is on it's way to my HD as an mp4 file some are PSP ready, some need converting. the problem is that DownloadHelper does not download the TV shows on youtube. just the user generated content but I have another tool for that.