[UFO Chicago] How Do I Download A Facebook Video?

[Neil R. Ormos]

jay at m5.chicago.il.us wrote:

|> I'm trying to watch a Facebook video [...] 
|> but my bloody Internet connection is too bloody 
|> slow [...]

|> I would like to download the bloody thing, [...]

The youtube-dl program

  <https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html>

may help. Depite the "youtube" in the name, youtube-dl also includes facilities to download content from many other popular video delivery services (along with some audio-only services).

Youtube-dl requires Python 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+.  For use with some services, it may also require one or more of rtmpdump, ffmpeg, and avconv.

The video delivery services change things frequently, which sometimes renders youtube-dl unable to work with particular services from time to time. Youtube-dl is frequently updated, so the problem is often solved (from the user's perspective) by waiting a few days, updating youtube-dl, and trying again.

There are also plug-ins available for the major browsers that will attempt to find and download video or audio content presented on a web page. One example is the UnPlug plug-in for the Firefox browser.

Finally, some browsers (e.g., Opera 12) download the entire video content file to a local cache directory. That file remains intact for a short while but is then removed, sometimes even before viewing is complete.  Renaming the file while it is being downloaded does not interfere with the download, but does prevent browser from unlinking the eventually-complete file before you have a chance to use it.

Although improper use of these tools could infringe copyright and violate terms-of-use imposed by various services, there are also many legitimate use cases.