YouTube Links does two things. It tags every video links on YouTube so that they can be downloaded easily. On the watch page, it also shows all the video formats available at the top of the page.
(YouTube Links is a user script. You might want to read this first: what is a user script?)
The look-n-feel resembles YouTube HD Suite. I have been using it for a long time and like how it works. After YouTube changed its page format on 3rd August 2011, I looked at the code and helped to fix it. This script is written from scratch, though.
Tested on Firefox 5.0 (with Greasemonkey), Chrome 13, Opera 11.50 and Safari 5.1.7 (with NinjaKit). Not tested on IE. It won't work on IE 7.
The script on userscripts.org: click to install. (Note: on some browsers, you may need to save the script in a specific folder.)
Notable features
- Shows the available file format, resolution (info from the page itself) and size.
- Scans the video links on the page in batches to avoid overloading the network.
- The video links have the correct filename, so they can be saved easily.
- Has an updater. It checks for updates every 3 days.
- Uses localStorage instead of cookies.
Limitations
- There is currently no user options.
- It does not auto-redirect to the highest/preferred video format.
Only one video format is shown for the video links. I just pick the first non-WEBM format. It works well enough. ^_^ A better solution is to show all the formats and let the user choose.Available in 1.1.The video formats for the current video is not shown on the user's channel page.Available in 1.2.- Doesn't work on the mobile pages.
- Most probably won't work on mobile browsers. Shows up on Tampermonkey (Android), but is unable to download the videos.
Changes
Version 1.32
Jan 2013
- Fixed channel video (broken after YouTube update).
- Moved video links back to top of the page (shifted after YouTube update).
- Group video links by video resolution.
- Shortened video resolution (1280x720 -> 720p)
- Handles 2048x1536 video resolution.
Version 1.31
Jan 2013
- Fixed filename (broken after YouTube update).
Version 1.30
Oct 2012
- Show file size in Firefox and Chrome.
Version 1.23
Oct 2012
- Show available update on Chrome.
Version 1.22
Sep 2012
- Added signature to video link, or YouTube will reject it — recent YouTube change.
- Show '3GP' instead of '?'.
Version 1.21
Sep 2011
- Bug fixes.
Version 1.2
Sep 2011
- Shows video formats for the current video in the user's channel.
- Implement list of video formats when hover over a video link as a tooltip.
- Show the new version's changes as tooltip in the update notification.
- Slow down scanning for video links.
Version 1.1
Aug 2011
- Shows all video formats when hover over the video links.
Version 1.01
Aug 2011
- Map : to - and " to ' in filename.
- Bug fixes.
Bugs
| Found | Fixed | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1.22 | 1.23 | Forgot to change version from 1.21 to 1.22! Changed to 1.23. |
| 1.2 | 1.21 | New version changes is shown as "undefined" if not present. |
| 1.2 | 1.21 | Video formats tooltip is positioned wrongly in Chrome if page is scrolled. |
| 1.1 | 1.2 | The list of video formats when hover over a video link may be clipped, depending on the page layout. |
| 1.1 | 1.2 | The list of video formats when hover over a video link may wrap in the user's channel page. |
| 1.0 | 1.01 | Font color is incorrect in playlists. This is because the page's CSS has higher specificity. |
| 1.0 | 1.01 | New video links on the page are not tagged if they are loaded using Ajax. |
| 1.0 | 1.01 | New version is displayed incorrectly — 1.01 will be shown as 1.0! |
| 1.0 | 1.01 | Encoded HTML entities & and " are not handled properly in titles. |
| 1.0 | 1.01 | URL to update script is specified wrongly — 1.0 users will not see the update! |
| 1.0 | 1.23 | Check for update does not work in Chrome! Fixed, but Chrome 21 onwards does not allow direct installation of user scripts. |