Firefox guides, Firefox cache folder

Comparing to the previous Firefox guides, this could be an easier 3-minutes guide about how to save (YouTube) flash video, shockwave game, mp3, movie, music, picture, etc from Firefox cache folder.

Using YouTube video as example, let’s see how could we save a copy of “Gwen Stefani – What You Waiting For?” from the Firefox cache folder:

1. Wait for the flash video loading completely, i.e. able to play MTV to the end
   
2. Open a new tab / window of Firefox and enter about:cache as an URL
   
3. Take note of the Firefox cache folder path specified in Cache Directory: and browse to this folder with Windows Explorer
   

   
   If the Storage In Use greater than or approaching Maximum Storage Size, the video might not be cached completely or you’ll have to increase Maximum Storage Size and reload the MTV again.
   
   To set Firefox cache folder maximum storage size, click Tools | Option… | Network | Cache
   

4. Sort the cached files by file size and try to open the biggest file with Storm Codec-MPC or FlV Player. (The biggest file is likely to be the cached YouTube video)

OK. If you want to know what those files in the Firefox cache folder exactly are, here we go:

1. While in the about:cache page, click the List Cache Entries link of the Disk cache device section
   
2. Press CTRL + F to search for Key: (URL) with the get_video keyword and also with the biggest Data Size: (YouTube doesn’t cache the flash video in FLV extension. For other flash video hosting site, you may save time by trying to search for .FLV extension).
   
3. Right-click the URL and select the Open Link In New Tab and refer to the File on Disk:

P/S: There are many Firefox plugins available to save flash video. However, if you’re not regularly download flash video, then it’s worth to know how to do it manually. Running too many plugins might slow down the Firefox or overall PC performance too :-)