Question : There are some videos on YouTube that I would like to view offline on my MacBook also, since I will be travelling and I will not be having internet access al the time.
Is there a FREE and easy way to view YouTube-videos offline ? or download them ?
Answer : Yes, there is. If you can do with a lowres 360p video with sound ( which is easy to store and high enough quality for general use, not for in-depth studying or full-screen presentation ), just do this : – open the YouTube website – copy the URL of the page that the video you want to download is on – go to the EaseUS website : https://multimedia.easeus.com/online-video-downloader/ – paste the URL – when the video opens in a separate window, you can save it as a .webarchive-video that you can play locally in Safari, even if you don’t have an internet connection
that’s it !
enjoy π
NOTE : if you need to have an MP4 version, you can paste the .webarchive-file name into a video downloading app like Downie.app ( however, some video downloading apps like 4KVideoDownloader+.app aren’t able to convert the .webarchive file )
Question : I have some MP4 videos of online courses that contain a lot of blabla… if they were Youtube videos, I would be able to increase the playback speed to 1.5x (150%) or even 2x (200%) to increase my efficiency. However, these online courses were delivered to me for offline playback in QuickTime on macOS, but now I can’t find the button (or maybe ‘the trick’ ?) to increase the playback speed… so I seem to be stuck on having to watch them at the ‘normal’ s…l…o…w… playback speed…
Is there any way to speed this up ?
Answer :
Yes, there is ! Even though it’s a little more hidden than you are used to with YouTube videos, QuickTime is able to increase (or decrease) the playback speed in three ways, that differ in the range and number of playback speeds available :
1. the basic method : – when de video is open in QuickTime, click on the screen to make the control panel appear – then click on the >> button (top right on the control panel) – from the popup list that appears, select “Playback Speed“ – then, select the desired speed from the 5 options that appear : ββ 0,5xββ( half speed ) ββ 1,0xββ( normal speed ) ββ 1,25xβ( 25% faster ) ββ 1,5xββ( 50% faster ) ββ 2,0xββ( double speed )
2. the precise method : – when the video is open in QuickTime, click on the screen to make the control panel appear – then hold down the ALT-key (on your keyboard) while clicking on the DoubleArrow-button (the FastForward-button on the right or the SlowBackward-button on the left) to increase (or decrease) the playback speed in small steps of 10% : ββ 1,1xββ( 10% faster / slower ) ββ 1,2xββ( 20% faster / slower ) ββ 1,3xββ( 30% faster / slower ) ββ 1,4xββ( 40% faster / slower ) ββ 1,5xββ( 50% faster / slower ) ββ 1,6xββ( 60% faster / slower ) ββ 1,7xββ( 70% faster / slower ) ββ 1,8xββ( 80% faster / slower ) ββ 1,9xββ( 90% faster / slower ) ββ 2,0xββ( double speed / half speed )
3. the hyper speed method : – when the video is open in QuickTime, click on the screen to make the control panel appear – then hold down either the CMD-key or the SHIFT-key or the CTRL-key (on your keyboard) while clicking on the DoubleArrow-button (the FastForward-button on the right or the SlowBackward-button on the left) to increase (or decrease) the playback speed in huge steps : ββ 2xββ( double speed forward or backward ) ββ 5xββ( 5x faster = 5 seconds per secondβforward or backward ) ββ 10xββ( 10x faster = 10 seconds per second forward or backward ) ββ 30xββ( 30x faster = half a minute per second forward or backward ) ββ 60xββ( 60x faster = one minute per second forward or backward )
Question : For years I have been using the Jaksta app for downloading online videos like YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo, and even embedded videos from any website. But now, for some reason Jaksta has stopped updating the Jaksta for Mac (apart form one picture still claiming “Video and Music Downloaders for Windows and Mac”, but all other reference to the Mac version and support or download options have gone). I’ve found some video-downloaders that can only download from YouTube, and apps like YTD, 4K Video Downloader and VideoProc, but those are primarily made for Windows users and they are nowhere near as versatile as Jaksta….
What can I do ? How do I download embedded videos on my Mac ?
Answer :
Currently there are 2 Mac-apps that can do about the same that you were able to do with Jaksta for Mac, so not only download videos from YouTube and other online video platforms, but also download embedded videos :
Downie by Charlie Monroe – downloading videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and other online video platforms – downloading embedded videos from nearly any website – download videos in any available resolution (even 4K and up) – a FREE plugin for downloading from within Safari (or other webbrowser) is available – video conversion to MP4 build in – combination with Permute-app delivers extra fast video conversion to multiple formats & sizes
PullTube by MyMixApps – downloading videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and other online video platforms – downloading embedded videos from nearly any website – download videos in any available resolution (even 4K and up) – a FREE plugin for downloading from within Safari (or other webbrowser) is available – video conversion to MP4 build in
PullTube, Downie and Permute are available in FREE test-versions, where unlimited use can be unlocked by buying a licence or via the Settapp subscription service that gives access to over 200 macOS & iOS apps for a monthly fee.
If you think the regular pricing of any of these apps is too high (e.g since you expect to only need them for the incidental use), you can search the web for discount codes or check if macOS app bundles like BundleHunt and StackSocial currently feature them.
I have a short video file (a movie clip) that I want to share with my friends on WhatsApp. When I drag&drop it into the WhatsApp.app in macOS, the file appears to start uploading… but when done, there is no preview shown and no Play-button, just a file icon… as if it were an unknown or incompatible type of file…
What can I do to fix this ?
Answer :
Before uploading your video file to WhatsApp, you must make sure your video file meets WhatsApp’s file requirements :
video format preferably MP4 in H.264 or MPEG-4 codec ( MKV, AVI or 3GP will also do )
audio format preferably AAC ( or AC3 codec )
file size smaller than about 16MB ( in reality even 18MB might be okay )
usually, this means your movie clip will be about 90 seconds, but by tweaking the display size and the frame rate ( fps ) you can even squeeze 3 minutes or more into about 16MB
Do this to check your video’s specifications :
right-click ( CTRL-click ) on the movie clip’s icon
select “Get Info” from the popup-menu
in the window that opens, check these :
the file name either has the “.mov” or “.mp4” file extension
at “Size:” less that 18MB should be listed
at “Codecs:” either “H.264” or “H.264, AAC” is listed
If these are all okay, you should be able to just drag&drop the movie clip into the macOS WhatsApp.app.
If not, you will have to convert the movie clip. To do this conversion, do this :
first, download the FREE OmniConverter.app ( by 7littlemen ) from the Mac AppStore :
then, open the OmniConverter.app and click on “Convert Video” from the list on the left
then, drag&drop your movie clip file onto the OmniConverter window
now, at the right of the arrow (in the middle), check if “MP4” is listed and the file size is less than 18MB
if you do not see “MP4” listed at the right of the middle arrow, click the Format-button
in the window that opens, select the “Device”-tab
then, select “iPhone” from the list on the left
then, select the “iPhone HD” option
now, click the Confirm-button
if you see a file size larger than 18MB listed at the right of the middle arrow, click the Edit-button
in the window that opens, at “Video”>”Encoder:” select “H.264”
and at “Audio”>”Encoder:” select “AAC”
leave the rest as is and click the Confirm-button
back in the Convert Video window, click on the Start-button ( circled arrow icon, at the right )
now, wait for the conversion to complete
if the file size already was less than 18MB, you’re usually okay and you will not need to do extra compression
if the file size was over 18MB, do this :
open the OmniConverter.app and click on “Compress Video” from the list on the left
drag&drop the .mp4-video you’ve just converted onto the OmniConverter window
check if the file size listed at the right of the arrow (in the middle) is less than 16MB
if so, click the Start-button on the right
if not, click the Edit-button (below the arrow)
in the window that opens, set the “Quality:”-slider in-between “Mid” and “High”, set “Resolution:” to “720P” and set “Frame Rate:” to “24 FPS”
if at “Size:” it now says anything less than 16MB, click the Confirm-button
if at “Size:” it says anything over 30MB, set “Resolution:” to “480P”
if at “Size:” it says anything between 20MB and 30MB, set the “Quality:”-slider to “Mid”
now, if at “Size:” it still says anything over 18MB, start tweaking the available settings until at “Size:” it says about 15MB ( see how much the file size decreases when you tweak each setting to find the optimal combination of settings )
when done, click the Confirm-button
now, in the “Compress Video” window, click the Start-button
…and wait for the compression to finish
After the file conversion, drag&drop the converted movie clip into the WhatsApp.app to share it with your friends…
I’ve found this old Flash videos (in .flv format) on an old hard disk and I want to play them on my Mac / iPhone, but QuickTime gives a “The document could not be opened”-error, stating “The file isn’t compatible with QuickTime Player.”
Is there a simple way to convert them to a video file format that QuickTime can handle (preferably .mp4) ?
Answer :
Yes, there is : the FREE Smart Converter app can do this for you very easily. Just do this :
first, download the FREE SmartConverter.app (by ShedWorx) from the Mac AppStore :
For my social media I regularly want to create a .gif-animation from small clip out of an .mp4-video file that I have, but I don’t have a lot of video-editing skills or specialised software.
Is there a simple way to do this ?
Answer :
There are lots of ways to do this. And no video-editing skills are required to do the most basic, but with some editing you can quickly get better results.
I would recommend buying the $5 GIF Brewery 3 from the Mac AppStore and doing the editing in QuickTime (or iMovie).
The recommendations for a good GIF-animation for most social media are (suggested by .gif-database GIPHY) :
duration of about 6 seconds (shorter is better)
file size close to 8MB (smaller is better)
video resolution of 480 pixels (or 720 pixels maximum) on the shortest side (depending on either landscape or portrait view, or square, or any custom size)
total number of frames of 100 maximum (less is better)
If you just want to turn part of an existing video into a GIF, do this :
then, in the pulldown menu, click on “Movie Inspector”
then, check out the number that is at “Encoded FPS” and remember it (you need this later)
then close QuickTime.app
now, open your source video in GIF Brewery 3
then, in the video slider below your video, slide the green slider to match the first frame of your desired GIF
and slide the red slider to where you want your GIF to end
click on the PLAY-button (black triangle left of the video slider) to preview your GIF
if the preview-length is not okay, readjust the green and/or red slider to improve your clip
now, in the editing window, click on the Resize-button top left
then, in the popup window, make sure “Maintain aspect ratio” is checked
then, move the Scale-slider until either Width or Height is 480px (if the clip size is less than 5 seconds, you could also stop the Scale-slider at 720px)
now, in the editing window, click the Settings-button top right
then, at “Frames Per Second” set the fps to match the “Encoded FPS” of the original video
again, click on the PLAY-button (black triangle left of the video slider) to preview your GIF
if the preview-speed is too slow, adjust the Speed-slider to a higher value (anything less than 110%, even 103%, will usually do)
if the preview-speed is too fast, adjust the Speed-slider to a lower value (anything over 95% will usually do)
then, make sure there’s a checkmark at “Optimize GIF colors”
then, adjust the ColorCount-slider to 48
again, click on the PLAY-button (black triangle left of the video slider) to preview your GIF
if the preview looks okay, leave the ColorCount-slider at 48
if the preview looks too dark or otherwise odd, adjust the ColorCount-slider to a higher value like 96, 128, 216 or 256, but make sure to set it as low as possible
then, click the “Create”-button (at the bottom, slightly right of the middle, with a beer glass in it) to generate the GIF
then, click on the Save-button (bottom right)
in the popup window, type the name you want your GIF to have, set the location where you want it stored and click the Save-button
then, browse the Finder to find the GIF’s icon and ALT-click on it
first, select “Get Info” from the popup menu and check if the file size is 10MB or less
if the file size is over 10MB, go back to GIF Brewery 3, lower at least one of the values you have set there and create an extra version of your GIF that has a file size of 10MB or less
as mentioned before, the main values you can adjust are :
Length of the clip
Scale / Resize (might make the picture more grainy)
Frames Per Second / FPS (might make motions less fluent)
Color Count (might make the colors less vibrant)
then, ALT-click on the GIF’s icon again and select “Open with” from the popup menu and select your internet browser (probably Safari) to preview the animated GIF
If you are happy with the end result, you are ready to post the GIF on your social media
this will convert to an .mp4 video with 1280×720 resolution at 30 frames per second and AAC sound (file size ca. 2MB per 10 seconds)
Note : even though the frame rate and screen size are the same, the βGmailβ-ready file will be much smaller than the βiPhoneβ-ready file, even though (or rather βbecauseβ) this comes with the downside that quick-moving objects will blur in the βGmailβ-ready video (compared to the βiPhoneβ-ready video that hardly has any blur and is similar in size and quality to the βFast 720p30β preset in Handbrake)Β
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