YouTube Direct Video URL

[j7n]

I just discovered something handy. If I click on the Information and Properties, where we can see the streams and bitrates, while a YouTube video is loading, the direct link to the video stream is shown there for a brief moment. After video playback has begun, this direct URL is replaced with the standard short address which points to the webpage.

This URL appears to have the right parameters to download a 360/720 stream at full speed. No need to mess with DASH or muxing, range, throttled speed, or an URL capture tool in browser.

Why isn't the direct link shown at all times?

[rvm]

Because that URL is very large, I think it's better to show the youtube URL which is easier to copy. Also the direct URL is temporary, it's expires. Anyway you can find the URL in the smplayer log (look for RetrieveYoutubeUrl::finish: p_url)

[j7n]

Good, I didn't know what the log could be used for. The URL expiry is more of an issue while watching than downloading, if I soft-stop the video and go away. I'm really amazed that the 360s can be downloaded really fast at 7 MB/s. I wonder if these good streams will stop being available since "nohtml5" no longer works on website since yesterday to get the Flash plugin.