How to download a video from a website

First: the kinds of web video

Web video comes in roughly three kinds. In VGrab the method is the same for all, but knowing them explains why "Save as" sometimes fails:

• Streams (M3U8 / HLS, DASH): a film cut into hundreds of few-second pieces the player requests one by one. Right-click gets you a playlist, not a video. Most video sites work this way now.
• Whole files (MP4 / WEBM / FLV): a complete file. In theory you could save it, but many sites block hotlinking so a direct save is refused, or hide the address from the right-click menu.
• Live: streamed as it plays, with no complete file to save — it can only be recorded.

With VGrab, three steps

1. Open the video page and press play. The player must actually request data before the extension can find it. A number on the icon means it found that many.
2. Click the extension icon in the toolbar. It has already found the film and chosen a quality, with ads and trailers pushed down. 480P by default, the closest level if missing, and the level actually used is written on the button; tap another for higher.
3. Press Save. A stream is joined into one playable MP4; a whole file downloads directly; on a live page the button says Start recording. Files land in your download folder in a sub-folder per site, named after the title.

How each kind is fetched

Streams. The extension reads the playlist, fetches several pieces at once and writes each into one file on disk in order — nothing piles up in memory. When all are in it turns the file into a standard MP4, changing only the container. Separate video and audio tracks are merged.

Whole files. The extension makes the request on behalf of the page with the right referer, so hotlink protection lets it through. The size is measured and shown first.

Live. Start recording saves from the earliest moment available; Stop recording gives you an MP4 a few seconds later. Long recordings are fine — a new file starts past 1 GB — and players that expose no address can still be recorded as they play.

No pile of tools

No player plugin, no command line, no copying a playlist address into another program, no converter. Joining the stream and merging audio and video are handled in the background, files that "Save as" refuses still get saved, and you get a normal MP4 that phones, TVs and editors open directly.

A few more things it does

• Just one part: Section download in the popup, set start and end, only that part comes down.
• Audio only: saves an m4a.
• Several at once: press Save on other pages while one is running; they queue, and the site's downloads page shows all progress.
• Interrupted: network drop, pause or closed browser — press Continue and it resumes from that piece.

Where the file goes

The browser's download folder, in a sub-folder per site, named after the video title. "Open folder" on the item in the popup jumps straight there; the site's downloads page lists the full history where you can play, open the folder, or delete the record with or without the file. History stays in this browser only.

Questions

Why doesn't "Save as" work? Usually it's a stream — you got the playlist, not the video — or a whole file behind hotlink protection. VGrab handles both.

The icon says "no video yet"? Press play first so the player starts loading, then click the icon; if not, refresh and press play again. Some sites only load once you scroll to the video or click it.

Is it slow? No. Several pieces are fetched at once and written as they arrive; an hour-long video is done in minutes, and it backs off when a site rate-limits so you don't get blocked.

What isn't supported? YouTube (terms don't allow it) and DRM-protected content, which the extension tells you about plainly.