People nowadays watch lots of videos online on websites, online video platforms, social media, and even video-on-demand apps. The growth in popularity of online videos has largely been due to the fact that streaming makes it convenient to watch videos without having to wait for them to download.
However there are times that you may actually want to download and save online videos. It could be that you want to watch the video later at a time when you won’t have internet access, or that you watch the video frequently and don’t want to use up data every time you stream it.
It may even be a live sport broadcast that you want to save because you aren’t free enough to watch it at the time.
Regardless of the reason why you want to download and save online videos, the good news is that there are several options that you can use to do so.
Video Downloader Websites
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One of the more popular options to download online videos is by using video downloader websites. In most cases these websites all work similarly and you just need to copy and paste the URL of the web page with the online video for it to process and provide you with a download link.
Although this is a straightforward option, it often has limitations in terms of the video quality, duration, and file size. On top of that it requires a web page URL, and so it cannot download videos that are within apps.
Browser Extensions that Locate the Video Source
Every online video is streamed from a source file, and there are browser extensions that can help you locate that source so that you can download the video from it. Because they let you download directly from the source, you can save the video in its original quality, duration and file size.
Being browser extensions, this option is restricted solely to the specific browser that you’re using. In short it can work on websites, social media, and other web pages – but not in apps.
On top of that many online video platforms try to actively block downloads or mask the video source. That can present a problem, and at times this option may not work on certain platforms until the extension itself is updated.
Screen Recording
Unlike the other options listed above, screen recording won’t technically let you ‘download’ online videos. Instead, it will allow you to record them while they are playing on your screen.
Because it records the video directly, screen recording has fewer limitations. In fact it can record videos that are playing on any website, online video platform, or app.
All you need to do to learn how to rip a video from a website is use a screen recorder such as Movavi Screen Recorder and set it up to capture the area of your screen where the video is playing.
The only way in which the other options are slightly better is in terms of the time that it takes. In order to save a video using screen recording you will need to wait out the entire duration of the video – whereas downloading a video of a similar duration can often be faster.
Conclusion
At the end of the day the best thing to do would be to try out each option for yourself to see which you prefer. By far the most versatile is screen recording, but you may want an easier option that actually downloads the videos instead of capturing them.
All said and done from the options listed above you should be able to quite easily download and save any online video that you need to.