How to fix Video DownloadHelper errors on Macs

It’s clear from the response to this post that many people are still having problems using the Video DownloadHelper extension in Firefox on Macs. Since a slightly simpler solution has emerged since it was written, here is a crystal-clear guide that may make it easier for some users.

1. Download ffmpegX into a folder on your Mac:

2. Double click on the DMG file. Right click on the ffmpegX icon and select “Show Package Contents”:

3. Find the ffmpegX file by drilling down the “Contents” and “Resources” folders:

4. Drag the ffmpegX file to anywhere on your Mac. I used my user folder “Nick”.

5. Open Firefox. Go to your Download Helper preferences by selecting “Tools” in your Firefox Menu bar:

6. In the “Conversion” tab, enter the path where you dragged your ffmegX earlier. In my case “/User/Nick/ffmpegX”. When you’ve entered the correct path the letters will turn black. If the path you’ve entered is wrong, the letters will remain red and Video DownloadHelper will not work!:

7. You can now download videos in YouTube and other video sites when the Video DownloadHelper icon animates next to your URL bar:

Some people seem to be confused where DownloadHelper downloads videos to but its quite obvious when you click download. DownloadHelper creates a folder called “dwhelper” in your user folder (in my case “/User/Nick/dwhelper”) when you first install it. All videos are downloaded into this folder.

Don’t worry if the download doesn’t start immediately – it can take a few seconds to initiate.

However, I’m unable to get the conversion tool working. Whenever I select the “Download & Convert” option, after I select the format I want to convert to, it just download an empty file. I’m not even sure if this feature will work at all on Macs. I read on one forum that XCode needs to be installed for it to work on Macs although this is tool only available to developers. I’m sure there must be a simpler way than this so if any users have any suggestions, it would be appreciated.