Here are the finest applications and software for swiftly and painlessly downloading videos from websites.

The vast majority of today's internet traffic is spent viewing online video, with YouTube accounting for the lion's share. Every minute, over 400 hours of video content are posted to YouTube, and YouTube has a larger audience of 18-49-year-olds than even cable television.

Then there are additional video streaming sites to consider, such as Vimeo, Dailymotion, Twitch, and so on. That's a lot of data moving around, and if your ISP has a monthly data cap, all of this video streaming might be costly.

The solution is to record or save web videos to view them offline, which allows you to watch them as many times as you want without wasting bandwidth.

Here are some of the finest tools for recording and saving internet streaming video so you can view it later.


1. Video DownloadHelper


Browsers Supported: Chrome, Firefox

Websites Supported: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Lynda, Twitter, Udemy, etc.

Video DownloadHelper is without a doubt one of the handiest browser extensions for downloading the streaming video you'll ever use. The only drawback (kind of) is that it requires installation on your browser; if you already have a lot of extensions installed, the last thing you need is another one slowing down Chrome. However, if you download a lot of videos on a daily basis, Video DownloadHelper is well worth the money.

The extension adds a button to the address bar of your browser. Simply click the icon to download any video on the current page whenever you come across an internet video. Use the pop-up window to select a location on your computer to save it.

2. 4K Video Downloader


Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux

Websites Supported: YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Flickr, Dailymotion, and many other sites.

4K Video Downloader is the most basic and user-friendly tool for capturing video from a website. If you want a hassle-free choice that involves almost little work on your side, we recommend it. It works swiftly and doesn't limit your downloads, and it's simple to use.

Simply copy and paste the URL of an internet video into a 4K Video Downloader. To download every video accessible, insert URLs to YouTube playlists or YouTube channels. You may also subscribe to YouTube channels and have new videos automatically downloaded as they become available. YouTube videos' annotations and subtitles can also be downloaded.

Downloads are available in 8K, 4K, 1080p, and 720p resolutions (as long the source video was uploaded at that same resolution, of course). Videos are also available in MP4, MKV, and FLV formats for download. You may also download just the audio in MP3 or M4A format.

3. Freemake Video Downloader


Platforms: Windows

Websites Supported: YouTube, Facebook, Liveleak, Veoh, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and many other sites.

One of the most widely used video downloaders is Freemake Video Downloader. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest online video downloaders available for any website.

It's absolutely free, simple to use, and rather flexible in terms of quality and format possibilities. The fact that it is only available on Windows is, however, a significant disadvantage.

AVI, FLV, MKV, MP4, and WMV are among the video formats that may be downloaded. Videos may also be downloaded in MP3 format if you simply want the audio element. The only thing you'll need is the video's URL, which you may copy and paste into the box.

4. JDownloader


Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux

Websites Supported: Any site with streaming video

JDownloader is a stream downloader that does things a little differently. You may paste the URL of any page with a streaming video into the app, and it will scan the page for all of the videos it can find. You have the option of downloading one or more of the recognized videos.

JDownloader has the advantage of not requiring the direct URL of a specific video. Take a MakeUseOf article with five embedded videos, for example, and they will all be detected. There's no need to scrounge around for the video's actual URL. This makes capturing many films at once a breeze.

However, be warned that the installer includes bundleware, which means that you will be prompted to install additional products that you do not require. When you start the installer, you'll be presented with a screen that offers you the option of installing "Bing Search" or anything else. The buttons on this page will change to Decline and Accept. Make sure you select Decline to prevent bundleware from being installed on your computer.

5. youtube-dl


Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux

Websites Supported: YouTube, Facebook, HBO, Metacafe, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and many other sites.

YouTube-dl is a command-line utility for experienced users who are familiar with it. If you prefer graphical interfaces, just use one of the ones listed above to spare yourself the trouble.

However, if you're comfortable with command-line applications, youtube-dl provides the greatest versatility of any video downloader. It's intricate enough to have a steep learning curve, so read the documentation carefully or you'll get lost.

You might also try youtube-dl-gui, an alternative front-end user interface for Windows and Linux that's accessible.

Several video selection and quality settings, playlist processing, download rate restriction, batch video downloading, automated file naming, ad inclusion, and subtitle download are among the features (for sites like YouTube).

3GP, AAC, FLV, M4A, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, and WEBM are all supported formats.

Capturing Online Videos: The Last Resort

If none of the preceding tools work with a video, the last option is to play the movie in full-screen mode and record your screen while it plays.

It's not ideal, but it usually gets the job done when nothing else does. Keep in mind, however, that some websites and applications (particularly TV streaming services) will not allow you to record the footage using a screen recorder. When you try to play the video again, you'll see nothing but a blank screen.

You may use VLC to play and record internet videos as a form of streaming video recorder if you have the direct URL of the video.