How to fix DownloadHelper conversion errors
My favorite tool for downloading YouTube clips on Mac is the DownloadHelper extension for Firefox. It’s convenient, quick and even converts videos into the format of your choice while it downloads. For a while however I’ve been plagued with a ”Conversion requires external application” error message when downloading certain clips.
The exact error read: “Conversion requires an external application that appears to be missing on your system. Configure conversion? > Cancel > OK.” When I selected OK, it opened the Preferences for DownloadHelper highlighting in red the location path for the selected converter option which is either FFMpeg or MEncoder.
I eventually found the start of the solution was to install the ffmpegX video/audio encoder for Mac. ffmpegX is basically a Mac OS X graphic user interface designed to operate more than 20 video and audio processing tools including ffmpeg which is a very fast video and audio encoder.
For the purposes of correcting the DownloadHelper error, you don’t actually need to use the ffmpegX interface. You do however need it to use it to install the mpeg2enc binary for ffmpegX. Once you’ve installed ffmpegX, you’ll be immediately taken to the main interface where you’ll be prompted to load 3 binaries. You only need to load one binary to fix DownloadHelper - the mpeg2enc binary - which can be found here.
You don’t have to worry about the mencoder or mplayer binaries but you do need to check the box next to mpeg2enc and locate the binaries that you’ve downloaded onto your hard drive. The resulting installation places the binaries in your Mac’s application support library. The final step is to re-open your DownloadHelper preferences (in Firefox’s Tools menu) and enter the path where the binaries are located. For most people, it will be “/Library/Application Support/ffmpegX”:
When the DownloadHelper logo animates next to the URL bar while you are using YouTube, you should now be able to download videos again with it. However, it hasn’t worked perfectly for me. For some reason, videos are being downloaded to a temporary file on my Mac rather than the directory I’ve configured downloaded files to be saved in DownloadHelper. In addition, the files are not being converted to QuickTime format they were previously. However, I can sort-out all of this by manually moving the files and converting them myself later. The important thing is that this work-around allows you to download YouTube clips again using DownloadHelper.
Posted at 3:54 pm on Jun 23rd
Thanks for you great advice! I actually got it it work on my Mac!!
Posted at 8:14 pm on Jun 23rd
Glad it helped Steve. It really had me stuck for a while too.
Posted at 3:20 pm on Jun 30th
Thanks very much! I finally got it all to work because of you. Perhaps you could add an extra bit explaining how to download a binary file (I had to work that out elsewhere). Cheers.
Posted at 11:15 am on Sep 5th
Thanks! I couldn’t figure out the correct path to type in!
/Library/Application Support/ffmpegX
Works like a charm.
Posted at 6:22 am on Sep 8th
perfect thanks so much <3
Posted at 9:58 am on Sep 15th
Thanks heaps.. the perfect solution to n awesome little ap!
Posted at 7:23 pm on Oct 10th
Thanks for the fix. Only thing is I can’t find the downloaded files. i see that they are downloading and cleary not to the path where I told them to (as you mentioned would happen) but when I search for them with spotlight I can’t find them. Any clues as to where that temp folder would be?
Posted at 9:09 am on Oct 12th
Hi David, On Macs, you’re usually prompted where you want to save the file when you select download. In my case, I usually save them to a folder labeled “dwhelper” in my user folder.
Posted at 8:37 pm on Nov 1st
I’ve downloaded an ran ffmpegX from my Applications folder. I’ve also downloaded the three binaries. Once I’ve located them and clicked install I get the following error message. Any suggestions? Thanks, Chris
“The installation was not successful.
WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type “man sudo” for more information.
To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
Sorry, try again.
sudo: 3 incorrect password attempts”
Posted at 10:11 am on Nov 14th
how do you download the binary file? All i see is a web page full of characters.
Posted at 11:42 pm on Nov 14th
Same thing here as “k” nothing but code.
I’d really like to get this working
Posted at 11:44 pm on Nov 15th
thanks - worked perfect!
Posted at 11:57 am on Nov 16th
@K and Darrell - That code IS the binary file. Don’t open it - just CMD-click or right-click and download it