You Tube - Real Player - MPEG-4

[Suradit69]

I used to download some YouTube videos using the free version of RealPlayer without any problem.

Now it seems they're saved as MPEG-4 files and nothing I have will play them ... RealPlayer, DIVX Plus, Windows Media Player or Media Center.

Went to CNET and found a "Media Player Codec Pack" which supposedly would enable Windows Media Player to play MPEG-4. It didn't and it also gifted me with a new web tool bar, some adware and other things I had to spend some time getting rid of ... I hope.

Any suggestions how to play these YouTube downloads? Not a burning issue since I can obviously just watch them on YouTube directly, but once in awhile I'd like to save one, which in the past was easy to do.

Thanks

[chakatee]

Open them in Mozilla Firefox with Add-on for downloading installed instead of Internet Explorer ... then you can chose the format in which you'll download.

[joncl]

or just use VLC on whatever OS you have to play it, the link is here http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html ..

[Chicog]

+1 VLC

[BB1950]

I used to download some YouTube videos using the free version of RealPlayer without any problem.

Now it seems they're saved as MPEG-4 files and nothing I have will play them ... RealPlayer, DIVX Plus, Windows Media Player or Media Center.

Went to CNET and found a "Media Player Codec Pack" which supposedly would enable Windows Media Player to play MPEG-4. It didn't and it also gifted me with a new web tool bar, some adware and other things I had to spend some time getting rid of ... I hope.

I'm surprised to see that RealPlayer created these files and can't play them back! Perhaps you have a problem with the installed CODECS installed on your system. Installing incompatible codecs could do this. I'm not sure about the particular pack you installed, but I've had problems with some 'Codec packs' with 'Windows' in the name. I remember installing a couple package (something like 'Windows 7 Codecs') and found there were quite a few codecs that weren't supported, or dodgey. As in your case, they installed a bunch of 'adware' that hijacked my browsers which was difficult to remove. CNET offers a lot of software packages that do.

I went back to using my 'trusted' K-lite Codec pack, and haven't had any problems since. I think there are four variants of the K-Lite Codec Pack; Basic, Standard, Full, and Mega. You only need to install one variant. the standard variant and above includes Media Player Classic which I haven't found a format that it couldn't handle. The MP4 format is just a container format that uses different codecs. The newer MP4 formats aren't fully implemented on all devices yet. Some codecs used in MP4 files are proprietary so cheaper devices don't support them. Some MP4 files play on one device, but not another. The older AVI, MOV, MP2, and WMV formats are supported on more devices.

The Klite Codec pack does not contain any codecs or filters that are known to be bad, buggy or unstable. In fact, the installer is able to detect and disable several known troublemakers that may already be present on your computer. This solves problems and improves system stability. The Codecs are updated frequently so you should install the the most recent Codec pack periodically.

If you have a x64 version of Windows, then it is recommended to install both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of the codec packs. They work together in complete harmony. It is important to also have 32-bit codecs on a 64-bit system because many applications are still 32-bit, including Windows Media Player!

You can find more information here: http://codecguide.com/about_kl.htm

Before installing K-lite codec pack, remove any other 'Codec packs' that are installed. Don't uninstall any through 'Device Manager', instead use 'Progams and Features'.

[Suradit69]

I downloaded the Basic Codec pack as well as the VLC media player.

After that the Windows Media Player would open the files listed as MPEG-4, but with audio-only playback.

The VLC player works with other videos, but not these problematic files from YouTube.

So I decided to uninstall, reinstall RealPlayer and try again.

Pretty much the same thing. RealPlayer won't play the YouTube file it just downloaded, Windows Media Player plays it as audio only and the others don't do anything.

And as far as I can figure out, this problem only arises with YouTube. I can download and replay other video stuff. Maybe YouTube has thrown a spanner in the works or the free version of RealPlayer can't cope with it, although up until recently it wasn't a problem.

Thanks for the suggestions. Probably not worth expending any more time and energy. Quite often saved videos get played a few times and then just consume disk space anyway.

[curtklay]

I had the same exact problem. You Tube used to show a download arrow that would open Real Player, then one day it was gone. The answer is "Video Downloader Pure 1.97.1". It's a free downloader for Firefox. Now my green download arrow is back, and I can download You Tube as well as most anything, and choose the format I wish.

[NoshowJones]

Open them in Mozilla Firefox with Add-on for downloading installed instead of Internet Explorer ... then you can chose the format in which you'll download.

I use IDM for downloading, I paid around 20 GBP about five years ago, this is a one off fee, and my downloading has been very fast, especially with you tube.

[monty]

You can try kmplayer.

What I use and it plays all my downloaded utube vids (and whatever else I have).

But utube seems to be constantly changing their systems trying to block downloading of their vids.

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[sumrit]

When I play anything on You Tube I get a real player download link at the top right hand corner of the video. In the past I could also download from here and watch it in real player or move it to my video folder and watch in media player, VLC, etc. Now it doesn't work and all I get a link to buy a real player program to convert it.

However I simply dragged the file into my videos folder then used converterlite to convert the file into AVI and can now play the converted file in VLC, media player, divx, etc, etc.

http://www.converterlite.com/update?version=1.6.2

I originally downloaded converterlite to convert children's programs into MPEG 2 for my garandchildren. The TV's in their bedrooms have USB sockets but the TV's will only recognize the MPEG 2 format. Converting their cartoons meant they could watch them in bed for half an hour each night.

But of course the program will also convert into a lot more formats.

Edited July 20, 2013 by sumrit

[Guest]

I download some of the youtube video feeds with gpodder. Files are saved as mp4, but there is possibilities to save files on other formats as well (automatic conversion).

VLC is a good default answer for all player/codec problems. It's a great little software. If using VLC on media player, there is even an android application to control the player with mobile phone.

[Suradit69]

RealPlayer apparently was the problem. They've got an update (see below) that supposedly solves the problem:

P.S. I installed the update and downloaded a You Tube video using RealPlayer. Now the video plays fine in Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, etc., but still won't play in RealPlayer ... go figure. Anyway the downloads are playable now.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Suradit69