fixed : get a local ( offline ) version of a YouTube video super fast

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 😉

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 )

fixed : quickly rotate a movie file in macOS 10.15 Catalina

Question :

I have a movie-file that was shot on an iPhone in portrait-mode, but I think it will look better  when viewed in landscape-mode. It’s a video of you cat playing on the carpet, shot from above, so both portrait-mode and landscape-mode are okay for viewing, but as we prefer to view video’s on out TV it would make more sense to have it in landscape-mode.

How do I do that ?

 

Answer :

In MacOSX and OSX rotating photos was easily done in iPhoto or Photos.app, but rotating video couldn’t be done in iPhoto or Photos.app – that had to be done in video editing software like iMovie, or a dedicated video-rotation-app.

In macOS 10.15 Catalina, rotating video 90 degrees can be done extremely simple in the Finder :

  • open the Finder (click out of all apps until you have only the Desktop to look at)
  • open a New Finder Window by typing CMD and N keys on your keyboard simultaneously (or goto Finder > File > New Finder Window)
  • locate the video-file (if you know it’s name, typ it in the Search-bar, else browse to the file if you know where it’s located)
  • then click on the file name to select it
  • the video preview will now come up on the right side, with various info and some buttons below it
  • to rotate your video 90 degrees counter-clockwise, click on Rotate Left
  • to rotate your video 90 degrees clockwise, press the ALT key on your keybord and click on Rotate Right (in the same spot where the Rotate Left button used to be)
  • then wait for the processing to end…

…and you’re done 😉

That’s it – enjoy !