Nigh 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 infinitesimal, and YouTube has a greater reach in the 18-49 demographic than even cablevision TV.

So you accept to consider other video streaming sites similar Vimeo, Dailymotion, Twitch, and and then on. 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 videos to watch offline, assuasive you to re-watch videos as many times as you lot want without wasting data.

Here are some of the best tools for capturing and downloading streaming video from websites online, so you tin can watch them offline.

1. Video DownloadHelper

videodownloadhelper

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 for downloading streaming video that yous'll ever install. The downside (sort of) is that you accept to install it on your browser; if you lot already run numerous extensions, the last thing you need is another one making Chrome even slower. But, if you download numerous videos on a day-to-day basis, Video DownloadHelper is definitely worth information technology.

The extension adds a button next to your browser's address bar. Whenever y'all come up across an online video, simply click the push to download whatever video on the current folio. Use the popular-upward box to determine where to save it on your computer.

2. 4K Video Downloader

Bachelor on: Windows, Mac, Linux.

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

4K Video Downloader is the simplest and near straightforward tool to capture video from a website. We recommend it if y'all want a no-hassle pick that requires shut to zilch endeavour on your role. It works quickly and doesn't throttle your download, plus it'south straightforward to get to grips with.

Just copy the URL of an online video and paste it into 4K Video Downloader. You tin can paste links to YouTube playlists or YouTube channels to download every video available. In fact, you tin can even subscribe to YouTube channels and auto-download new videos every bit they're made bachelor. You can as well 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 form). In add-on, videos tin also be downloaded in MP4, MKV, and FLV formats. Or, you can download only the sound portion in MP3 or M4A formats.

3. Freemake Video Downloader

Freemake Video Downloader interface

Available on: Windows.

Supported sites: YouTube, Facebook, Liveleak, Veoh, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and dozens of other sites.

Freemake Video Downloader is one of the nearly popular video downloading tools out at that place. Indeed, it is one of the best online video downloaders for whatsoever site.

Information technology's completely free, easy to use, and relatively flexible as far equally quality and format options are concerned. However, the one big downside is that it'due south only available on Windows.

Videos can exist downloaded in a handful of formats, including AVI, FLV, MKV, MP4, and WMV. If you simply want the audio portion, videos tin can as well be downloaded in MP3 format. The bodily process only requires the URL of the video—just copy and paste it in.

4. JDownloader

JDownloader 2 interface

Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux.

Supported sites: Nearly any site with streaming video.

JDownloader is a stream downloader, but with a twist. You take the URL of whatsoever page that has a streamed video on information technology, paste it into the app, and it will browse the page for all the videos it can detect. Yous get to pick which of the detected videos you want to download.

The nice thing nigh JDownloader is that you don't need the straight URL of a specific video. For case, take a MakeUseOf commodity with five embedded videos and all of them will be detected. No need to bollix effectually finding out the direct URL of the video. This makes it effortless to capture several videos at in one case.

All the same, be aware that the installer comes with bundleware, which is where other programs are pushed to you that you don't demand. When you run the installer, you'll come across a folio that offers to install "Bing Search" or something else. On this page, the buttons will change to Decline and Accept. Ensure you lot click Decline considering this will preclude bundleware from being installed on your system.

5. youtube-dl

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 avant-garde users who are comfortable using the command line. If you prefer graphical interfaces, save yourself the headache and only utilise i of the ones listed to a higher place.

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 not-picayune learning curve though, and so fix to read the documentation, or else y'all'll be lost.

You could also try youtube-dl-gui, which is an unofficial forepart-end user interface that'southward available for Windows and Linux.

Features include several video pick and quality parameters, playlist processing, download rate limit, batch video downloading, automatic naming of files, inclusion of ads, and downloading subtitles (for sites like YouTube).

The post-obit formats are supported: 3GP, AAC, FLV, M4A, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, and WEBM.

The Last Resort for Capturing Online Videos

If y'all meet a video that isn't supported past any of the higher up tools, the terminal resort is to play the video in full-screen fashion and record your screen equally it plays.

It's non a perfect solution, but information technology ordinarily works when nothing else does. Keep in mind, however, that some sites and apps (especially Television set streaming services) will non let a screen recorder capture the footage. When you go to play the video back again, y'all will just be faced with a blank screen.

If you can become the straight URL of an online video, yous can also utilize VLC to play and tape online videos every bit a kind of streaming video recorder.

How to Record Your Screen Using VLC

VLC Media Player has many uses, simply did you know that it can record your screen too? Here's how to easily record your desktop with VLC.

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About The Author

Dan Price (1606 Articles Published)

Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Director since July 2020. Reach out to him for inquires about sponsored content, chapter agreements, promotions, and whatsoever other forms of partnership. You tin besides observe him roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas every twelvemonth, say hi if you're going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Financial Consultant.

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