# How did they do that?  (old YouTube, Rate Rix, etc...)

**URL:** <https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/how-did-they-do-that-old-youtube-rate-rix-etc/2300>\
**Category:** Archived\
**Tags:** roku-developer-program\
**Created:** [October 14, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/how-did-they-do-that-old-youtube-rate-rix-etc/2300 "2011-10-14T20:20:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![buenafe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@buenafe](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/buenafe)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/how-did-they-do-that-old-youtube-rate-rix-etc/2300/1 "2011-10-14T20:20:49Z")

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I’m still getting my feet wet with the Roku and learning about streaming videos.

If I need to use a video for my private channel, I currently manually download the video using a Firefox plugin and store the MP4 file to another location.

My understanding is that YouTube is mostly FLV based, but their is a way to get the MP4 stream.  
the private YouTube channel (which is now removed)

- RateRix
- 1080p showcase etc.

I’m curious to know (at a high level) how these Roku channels were able to stream content from Youtube since YouTube doesn’t make getting the MP4 link easy. I don’t think there is a static MP4 link to these videos.

PS, I’m not trying to recreate a YouTube channel.

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**Author:** ![renojim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@renojim](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/renojim)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/how-did-they-do-that-old-youtube-rate-rix-etc/2300/2 "2011-10-14T21:10:57Z")

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YouTube has an API. They have a lot of documentation for it.

-JT

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**Author:** ![buenafe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@buenafe](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/buenafe)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/how-did-they-do-that-old-youtube-rate-rix-etc/2300/3 "2011-10-14T21:48:16Z")

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@renojim

Thanks. I incorrectly assumed Google Youtube intentionally making it difficult.