Sites like Youtube, Cinematube, tv-links, etc.. Offer free videos and Realplayer Download Plugin lets you download videos from ANY site on the internet, great isn’t it?

Here is the problem, these videos are downloaded in flash format i.e. .flv format which is not supported by traditional media players. This article will help you convert files in flash (.flv) to .avi, .mpeg or in any other desired format.

I did a little bit of research and found two free yet useful products which will help us convert media files format from .flv to avi or mpg or from .avi, mpg to .flv, etc…

1. Riva FLV Encoder 2 (http://www.download.com/Riva-FLV-Encoder/3000-2140-10320097.html)
2. SUPER 2007 Build 23 (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX -Related/SUPER.shtml or http://download.videohelp.com/download/SUPERsetup200723.exe)

I personally recommend “Super 2007 Build 23” as it supports a long list of media formats, offers more control to the user at the time of conversion and is easy to use.

Download Super 2007 Build 23 from Here (The file is fairly huge, 26.7MB)

How to Convert[tags]How to convert[/tags] from .FLV to .AVI or .MPG using SUPER 2007

1. Once the download is complete, Double click on the file and follow the wizard to install Super 2007 Build 23
2. Run the software once the installation is complete
3. From the first option “Select the output container” you can select .avi, .mpg, .mov, .asf, .mp4 and lot of other available formats.
4. From the second option “Select the output video codec” DivX, XviD, MPEG1, MPEGII, MPEG4, etc…
5. From the third option “Select the output Audio codec” you can select MP3,AAC, AC3, WAV, etc.

These are the three most important options you have to choose to change the format for the media file but do play around a little bit with the other options to get a high quality video after conversion.

Now select the video you want to convert, you can either drag & drop the media file you want to convert or just right click and select “Add multimedia file(s)” to select the file as shown in the picture below. Once you select the video files you want to convert, hit “Encode (Active Files)” button to start the conversion.

How to convert Flash Video .FVL to .AVI, .MPG etc.. using Riva FLV Encoder  (Riva converts FLV to AVI and MPG and it’s very easy to use however the quality of the video after conversion is debatable.)

1. Download Riva FLV Encoder 2 from here (4.7 MB)
2. Double-click on the file to run the installation wizard once the download is completed
3. Run the software after the installation is complete
4. Select the media file you want to convert from “Input Video File”
5. In “destination video file” change the format extension from .flv to .avi or .mpg
6. Now hit “FLV Encode”, you are done!

Play around with the other options for better results.

I hope this helps everyone who is trying to convert.FLV [tags]convert .FLV[/tags] or any other media type. Thanks to Mike for requesting an article on how to convert FLV to AVI, we should have done this long ago

The latest versions of the Real player which is version 11, build 6.0 + lets you download videos you are watching on the Internet. All you have to do is install the real player and enable the “Download This Video” option while installing real player. After the installation is complete you can visit any video site and just mouse over the video and you will see a button popping up “Download This Video” as shown in the picture below which simply downloads the video on-click.

As I stated you can download videos from YouTube, Tv-links.co.uk, MetaCafe.com, etc.. almost any website. Following are the sites real player is known to work with

Download From YouTube.com
MetaCafe.com
Esnips.com
MSN Videos
Brightcove.com
Tv-links.co.uk
Cinematube.net
Watch-Movies.net
DavidM ovie.com
 
Click here to download Real Player or query:"Download free real player" in Google. Run the setup and you are all set for downloading on-line Videos.

I am going crazy thinking that almost every video on the Internet is  downloadable. It works well with FireFox and Internet Explorer, I haven’t tested it with other browsers.

[UPDATE: 11th July] RealPlayer pluging does not work with the latest version of FireFox, Firefox3.

Please read Best Firefox Extensions post to get an alternate plugin which does the job.

[Update: 12th April - 09] RealPlayer Download option seems to be working with the latest versions of FireFox and Internet Explorer. If your previous installation of RealPlayer isnt working, please reinstall it.