Update 2013/04/06: Finally found time to explain how to download using their new system. Do be warned though, the instructions can get rather complicated and is not for the weak-minded.

Update 2012/12/23: Yahoo! has once again changed their API and the way to get the direct download URL this time is a lot more complicated. Hopefully I will find some time to update this tutorial shortly.

Update 2012/01/21: Yahoo! has revamped their site and I’ve generated a quick tutorial on how to download HD trailers using their new site. The instructions are a bit rough, so if you need clarification, please feel free to ask in the comments area.

This tutorial was meant to teach you how to download HD Trailers from Yahoo! Movies.

Where to find the trailers:

Yahoo! no longer has a dedicated page for HD trailers and they don’t easily distinguish which videos have HD and which don’t. You can visit their movie trailers page or find the movie you want and click on the Trailers tab.

What to do once you’ve picked a trailer:

Once you’ve picked a trailer, you’ll have to make sure you have a ‘video’ URL and not a ‘trailers’ URL. For example, the latest Carrie trailer can be found either on http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/carrie-2013/trailers/carrie-trailer-2-231012436.html OR http://movies.yahoo.com/video/carrie-trailer-2-231012436.html. You’ll want to make sure your URL looks like the latter by replacing movie/carrie-2013/trailers with video.

Update 2013/04/15: It has come to my attention that URLs that have ymovies-6393699 will not work with these instructions. I have not found a way to get direct download links from them, only rtmp links.

Next, you’ll need to extract the content id. You’ll need to view the source of the page when the trailer is playing. I’m going to use the latest Carrie trailer for example. If you view the source of that page, you’ll find the following:

YUI.namespace("Media").CONTENT_ID = "b61427ff-58a1-3839-9832-3de79481dab4";

What you need to extract is the content id: b61427ff-58a1-3839-9832-3de79481dab4

Once you have the the content id, insert it into the following URL:

http://video.query.yahoo.com/v1/public/yql?q=SELECT%20*%20FROM%20yahoo.media.video.streams%20WHERE%20id%3D%22[CONTENT_ID]%22%20AND%20format%3D%22mp4%22%20AND%20protocol%3D%22http%22%20AND%20plrs%3D%22sdwpWXbKKUIgNzVhXSce__%22%20AND%20region%3D%22US%22%3B&env=prod&format=json

replacing [CONTENT_ID] with the content id you extracted earlier. Using the Carrie trailer example, you should have the following URL:

http://video.query.yahoo.com/v1/public/yql?q=SELECT%20*%20FROM%20yahoo.media.video.streams%20WHERE%20id%3D%22b61427ff-58a1-3839-9832-3de79481dab4%22%20AND%20format%3D%22mp4%22%20AND%20protocol%3D%22http%22%20AND%20plrs%3D%22sdwpWXbKKUIgNzVhXSce__%22%20AND%20region%3D%22US%22%3B&env=prod&format=json

How to download the actual trailer:

The final step is easy. Open the link you just generated.

What you get back is a list of all the videos in different resolutions that is supported. It may be hard to understand at first, but should be pretty simple after I explain what it means.

You can break up the data since each video is encapsulated inside a {…}. By searching for width and height, you should be able to find the resolution you want. For example, the 1080p trailer data looks like this:

{"mime_type":"video/mp4","path":"/yahoomovies/lotus/20130404_carrie_trailer2_4000.mp4?b=40000&d=+y+b61427ff-58a1-3839-9832-3de79481dab4++atlas+ca&dt=us+us_t+vid+b+cdn+cat&m=video%2fmp4&ns=ps+ss&ps=sdwpWXbKKUIgNzVhXSce__&ss=692e7f97-e951-402c-8aec-3096ad0dbefc&x=1365310511&s=737f76faaa9a89bff4b1079a1b9088a0","duration":152.0,"host":"http://c-1b6e2e40f7b267578312558bfee5eb25.a-yahoomovies.i-62e1269a.http.atlas.cdn.yimg.com","live":false,"bitrate":4000.0,"width":1920.0,"height":1080.0}

Next you’ll need to find the host and combine it with the path, resulting in this URL:

http://c-1b6e2e40f7b267578312558bfee5eb25.a-yahoomovies.i-62e1269a.http.atlas.cdn.yimg.com/yahoomovies/lotus/20130404_carrie_trailer2_4000.mp4?b=40000&d=+y+b61427ff-58a1-3839-9832-3de79481dab4++atlas+ca&dt=us+us_t+vid+b+cdn+cat&m=video%2fmp4&ns=ps+ss&ps=sdwpWXbKKUIgNzVhXSce__&ss=692e7f97-e951-402c-8aec-3096ad0dbefc&x=1365310511&s=737f76faaa9a89bff4b1079a1b9088a0

Open that URL in your browser or download manager and you should be able to save the trailer to your hard disk.

One thing to note is that the download URL you just generated is temporary and the link will expire. If you’ve waited too long, you’ll need to refresh the page with the content id in the URL, and new download URLs should be provided.

Hope this helps!

Using Download Managers:

For those using a download manager (i.e. FlashGet, DownloadThemAll!, etc.), you may experience some issues where you’d be prompted to enter a username/password. The cause for this as it turns out is Yahoo! isn’t too fond of users simultaneously downloading multiple pieces of the same trailer. My recommendation is to download directly from the browser or use a download utility such as wget or curl.