Launched as a rival to youtube, megavideo has seen immense growth since its birth. Megavideo was officially launched on August 10th, 2007 to directly compete with youtube. You may remember my last post about downloading megavideo videos back on 13th november(one of my first posts on this blog). I talked about a site called clipnabber which allowed you to download flv files from a number of video streaming sites such as megavideo, youtube, dailymotion, metacafe, google videos, etc. They were a solid site and one of the first to integrate megavideo into the mix but their service has declined in recent months and you can no longer download videos from megavideo. Good news for you megavideo fans is that there are a number of other methods by which you can download megavideo videos. I will be mentioning three such methods today which are guaranteed to work at the time of writing this post and due to their timeless nature, should probably work for many many more months to come. 

First Method to Download Videos from Megavideo
Install the popular firefox extension called Downloadhelper. It is able to download any streaming content running in your firefox browser, so you can easily download videos from ANY video streaming sites with a single click. I personally use this method for downloading megavideo videos and it hasn’t let me down so far. It is simple to use and you can find all instructions at their FAQ page. If you are not able to understand their FAQ to learn how to use the extension, then no worries, I will give you a short step-by-step manual to download videos from megavideo.

1. Install Extension.

2. You will notice a small icon () in the top right hand side of your browser window. If it is not there then right-click on the toolbar and click “customize”. You will certainly see the downloadhelper icon there. Just drag it where you want it to be on your toolbar.

3. Now, whenever you are on a site with streaming content, the downloadhelper button will animate and become coloured. Just click on the button and you will see the link to the different streaming files. Most likely there will only be one file when surfing sites likes megavideo, youtube, dailymotion, etc. Just click the file and the download will begin.

Second Method to Download Megavideo Videos

Although I recommend everyone to use the above method of downloading megavideo videos, I understand that not everyone may have access to firefox. This method is a simple one by which you will locate the temporary video file that is stored on your hard drive. I will only be explaining how to use this method with internet explorer because if you have firefox, then using the first method should be enough.

1. Go to your video on any streaming site and let it load to 100%.

2. Next, you will locate the temporary file in the temporary files folder. To view it you should go to C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files. You will need to have the “Show hidden files and folders” option enabled in your folder options to be able to get there. You could also view your hidden files and folders by going to “Tools -> Internet Options -> Settings -> View Files” in your internet explorer browser.

3. Once you have the temporary files folder opened, sort it in descending order by size. Your video file will most probably be one of the biggest on the list. It will be a random long-string of characters. A couple of things you could do to identify your specific file:

• Check the “Internet Address” column. Your file should have something like “megavideo” in there.
• Check the “Last Accessed: column. Your file should have the same exact date and time when you first viewed the video in your browser.

4. Once you have found your file, just copy and paste it to your desired location. Rename the file to your liking and include “.flv” at the end.

5. You will need a FLV player to play the file. VLC Media Player is also able to play FLV files. You could also use a converting software to convert the file to your desired format.

Third Method to Download Megavideo Videos

I have covered two ways to download videos from megavideo using both firefox and internet explorer. The third method works on both of these browsers. Internet Download Manager is a popular download manager used by thousands of people worldwide. In the newer versions of IDM, support for downloading streaming flv files has been added which means you can download videos from all of your favorite streaming websites. IDM has a 30 day trial version which you can use but after the 30 days are over, you will need to either register your IDM or uninstall it.

1. First, download IDM from their download page.

2. Install IDM.

3. Go to any streaming page and view a video.

4. You will notice a “Download this video” button on the top right corner of the video. Click it.

5. Your download will begin. The file will be saved in FLV format.

Here are a couple of screens to help you with downloading megavideo videos:

So there you have it, 3 ways to download videos from megavideo. If you have any trouble with any of these methods or any suggestion for me, just comment below.