YouTube uses the Flash Video Format (flv) and a Flash Video Player for their videos. The short story is you have to download the video to the computer, convert it to a supported by the Zune Software format and sync it to Zune. We use eRightSoft's SUPER video converter to do this. 

EDIT1: "SUPER" now supports Zune (wmv8 & wma2) since the build 21 version. So most of the problems on users comments, are solved now.

EDIT2: For IE there is a new plugin which compresses the following tutorial to only one click! Highly recommended. Check ZuneMyTube .

There are also other ways to do it, but one easy is with Firefox using the VideoDownloader plugin. After installing it, you can see at the bottom bar of Firefox a small icon. (It is where the arrow points)

This is a video from the past, Bruce Dickinson's "The Tower". So by clicking the VideoDownloader's icon while on YouTube, the following window opens:

Then click "Download Link". Depending on your preferences a dialog asking you where to save the file may appear. Then go to the file and change its name to something.flv . Zune Software cannot handle Flash Video files, so we need a transcoder. We use eRightSoft SUPER (its free) but you may use any flv to Zune (wmv, wma) or to iPod converter. Right click somewhere on the program and on the menu that appears click  "Add Multimedia Files" and select your flv video. You can use the following settings:

Next right click again on the program and select the place you want your video to be saved. (Otherwise SUPER saves it in "c:\Program Files" under the program's folder). After this, click "Encode" and wait... In some minutes your video will be ready to add on Zune's library and sync to the Zune.

 Almost tha same applies to Google Video service. I didn't add a red arrow to the plugin's icon here because the new Bond's girl is enough!

When you click the VideoDownloader icon you get a bit different menu than the one on YouTube:

Here there are 3 options: Flash Video (flv), avi (mpeg4) and iPod's mp4 (also mpeg4). I suggest you download the avi (or the mp4). In any case you need a converter again (mp4 is supported by Zune's Software, but not for  this codec). eRightSoft is a solution:

From here you do the same as for YoutTube and here is the result:

If you have any difficulties feel free to ask in our user Forum.

Comments (10)

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Didn't work for me...
written by Mark in St, Louis, November 25, 2006

Granted, I've only tried one video so far (White and Nerdy from YouTube). The initial conversion worked fine: it showed up in my Zune software, but from there it wouldn't convert while syncing to my Zune. I changed the "Output Video Codec" to "MS-mpeg4-v2" and it worked just fine.

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didnt work for me either
written by kris, November 28, 2006

i tried this when i first got my zune (before this was put up), the conversion works fine on the computer but somehow the combination of super and the zune programs conversion i ended up with green flashes in the video every so often once it got to the zune :- i have concluded that the problem is that wmv is experimental on super.

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...
written by Zune-Online.com, November 28, 2006

Lets try MS-mpeg4-v2 as the video codec.
I also saw the green squares also, but when I hadn't checked the "High Quality" box.

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Why does it still need to convert
written by Dave, December 27, 2006

I've run several encodes through the software and it converts the video to WMV.. but when I upload it onto the Zune, It still take 10-15 minutes because it says its converting..

Isn't it already converted .. or are these setting wrong..

I've tried a couple of the Divx to Zune programs that cost $30 .. and when uploading onto the Zune... It take 20 seconds..

It doesn't seem logical to have to convert the file twice..

Am I missing something?

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Nope, you are right
written by Zune-Online.com, December 28, 2006

eRightSoft's prog is not 100% compatible with Zune yet, so the Zune software transcodes the videos again.

Maybe the also free Encode360 is better.

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youtube, google video downloader for Zune, Archos, IRiver and Zen
written by k, January 01, 2007

This is an IE plugin that downloads videos from Youtube, Google video and transcodes them into .wmv format playable on all Windows Media (portable) players.

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..
written by werddd, January 03, 2007

you cant use mp3 to encode audio only wma.

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Better FLV Converters
written by Seth, January 11, 2007

I got my Zune primarily to put FLVs on it. When I began searching for a FLV converter I first found this post and downloaded SUPER.

However, I soon found that the program left much to be desired. Yes its free but I found the video output to be poor. I began searching for a new FLV converter.

After about 7 FLV converter programs later I've come across the best converters. Below are my pros and cons of these better converters as well as some video captures of each.

Moyea Video to Zune Converter
http://www.my-video-converter.com/video_to_zune/
Pros:
- Can convert flv's to mp4 and wmv and reduce the size of the file all while not sacrificing quality (lowering frame rate and bit rate)
- Many options of changing output
- Beautiful design looks very similar to the Zune software
- Output video comes out much better than SUPER
Cons:
- Costs $24.95
- Trial copy puts a large watermark on the output video, however the paid version does not.

ApecSoft 3GP Flash Video Converter
http://www.apecsoft.com/
Pros:
- So far it seems as though there's an unlimited free trial with no limitations
- Very fast, seems even faster than Moyea
- Output is very similar to Moyea and much better than SUPER
Cons:
- Limited video file size reducing options (lowering frame rate and bit rate) and when you do reduce it the video output comes out pretty bad
- Cannot convert flv's to wmv, only mp4 (although this is not a big deal as mp4 comes out very well on the Zune and is about the same as wmv)

Pictures





Also worth mentioning is that ApecSoft has ApecSoft AVI 3GP Joiner which can join and merge all flv's, mp4's, and wmv's as well as other formats (good when you have many flv parts and want to merge them into one). It merges them into avi (make sure use select avi since it uses 3gp as default) and it can then be converted into mp4 with Moyea or ApecSoft 3GP Flash Video Converter.

Also if you use flv's on your computer I have found that The KMPlayer is that best program to play them over all others (even VLC). And it can even play mp4 as well as many other formats.
http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/index.php

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flv to video
written by jack, January 15, 2007

The format of youtube video is flv, so you need a flv to video converter to convert youtube video to zune or ipod etc.

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YouTube Flash Video to zune
written by Daisy, August 06, 2007

The Google and YouTube Video Player displays a Flash Video (.flv) file in a Flash-enabled browser.if you want to play youtube video clips on zune, you have to download it first to hard disc, then convert to zune wmv, mp4,you can try flv to zune converter

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