The guide below will show you how to download videos from www.youtube.com and convert them to other video files suitable for various players and devices with Xilisoft YouTube Video Converter step by step.

This guide is divided into three parts:

1. Download and convert YouTube videos in IE browser
2. Download and convert YouTube videos with the built-in YouTube Video Browser
3. Convert FLV video on the hard disk to other video

At first, download, install and launch Xilisoft YouTube Video Converter. Below is the first interface after launch.

Part 1: Download and convert YouTube videos in IE browser

Step 1: Browse YouTube videos

visit www.youtube.com with Internet Explorer browser and browse YouTube videos.

Step 2: Create a new task

Click "New Download" button on the toolbar to open the "New Download" dialog, and copy the URL of the YouTube video you want, then paste it into the "URL" textbox.

Tips:

1. You can drag and drop the video URL directly to the main window or Drop Zone to create a new task.

2. Right click the YouTube video thumbnail, and choose "Download with Xilisoft YouTube Video Converter" option from the right-click menu, then the "New Download" dialog appears, and the video URL is automatically added into the "URL" textbox.

Step 3: Adjust the task settings

Adjust the Destination, Format and Start Task options in the "New Download" dialog above.

Destination: Click "Browse" button to open the "Browse For Folder" dialog box, select a folder for saving the output videos and click "OK" button. You can check the folder's available space below the "Destination" field.

Format: Select an output format you want in the "Format" drop-down list. If you only want to save the original FLV video, then choose "FLV" as target format.

Start Task: The "Start Now" option is selected by default. If you don't want to start the new task promptly after clicking "OK" button, then set the option as "Manual".

Step 4: Start downloading and converting

Click "OK" button to close the "New Download" dialog, then click "Start" button on the toolbar to start the task.

If you set the "Start Type" option as "Start Now", then the selected video will be promptly downloaded and converted to the format you choose and saved to the folder you set in the Step 3.

Part 2: Download and convert YouTube videos with the built-in YouTube Video Browser

Step 1: Adjust the task settings

Click "Tools > Settings" option from the main menu to open the "Settings" window, then click the "Task" tab and set the "Destination", "Format" and "Start Task" options in the "Task Default Configuration" area according to your own requirements.

Step 2: Browse YouTube videos in the built-in browser

Click "Browse videos" button on the toolbar or check "Browser..." option in the "Tools" menu to open the "YouTube Video Browser" window, and use the filter buttons at the bottom to browse the YouTube videos by different categories: Recent Videos, Most Viewed, Top Rated, Most Responded, Spotlight Videos, Top Favorite, Watch on Mobile, Most Discussed and Rising Videos.

Tips:

You can search for the videos you’re interested by typing the keyword into the "Search" textbox and clicking the magnifier button at the right.

Click the link below the video thumbnail, or right click the video thumbnail and click "Play" option from the right-click menu to open the web page with your default web browser and watch the YouTube video online.

Step 3: Start downloading and converting

Click the down arrow at the left top of the video you want, or drag and drop the video into the main window, or right click the video thumbnail and click "Download Video" option from the right-click menu to create a new task, then click "Start" button on the toolbar to start the task.

If you set the "Start Type" option as "Start Now", then the selected video will be promptly downloaded and converted to the format you choose and saved to the folder you set in the Step 1.

Part 3: Convert FLV video on the hard disk to other video

Step 1: Adjust the task settings

Click "Tools > Settings" option from the main menu to open the "Settings" window, then click the "Task" tab and set the "Destination", "Format" and "Start Task" options in the "Task Default Configuration" area according to your own requirements.

Step 2: choose the FLV files to convert

Click "New Convert" button on the toolbar to open the "please choose the files for convert" dialog, then choose FLV files you want and click "Open" button to close the dialog and return to the main window. The selected FLV videos will be added into the file list.

Step 3: Start converting

Click "Start" button on the toolbar to start the task. If you set the "Start Type" option as "Start Now", then the selected video will be promptly converted to the format you choose and saved to the folder you set in the Step 1.

Tips:

1. If your Internet Service Provider blocked YouTube site, you can bypass the firewall by setting the proxy server as below: Open the "Tools > Settings > Proxy" tab, choose the proxy server type, enter the address and port of the proxy server, and if necessary, enter the user name and password, then click "OK" button to return to the main window and retry the downloading.

2. You can click "Start All" button on the toolbar to start downloading and converting all the files in the file list, and control the converting process by the "Pause", "Stop", "Pause All", "Stop All" and "Remove" buttons.

3. There're two modes to view the files in the file list: list and thumbnails. Click the "List" and "Thumbnails" buttons to switch the view mode.

4. If you set the "Start Type" option as "Manual", then before you start the new task, you can change the destination and format freely.