How to Download ⏬ Video Instead of Playing

How to Download Video Instead of Playing in Web Browser

To Download Video Instead of Playing you have to create a link to the url or web address of the video. The videos default and expected behavior is to play but the default behavior of a link is to navigate to the web address.

In the case of a video, this default behavior of clicking the link to a video, because the video extension does not end with the expected .htm or .html or .php (typical video extensions on the web include .wmv, .mp4, .ogv, .flv) the fallback behavior of the web browser is to open a download dialog box to download the file, which in this case, is a video, the video you WANT to download instead of play in the web browser.

Getting the URL of the Video to Download ⏬

In order to download a video instead of it playing in the web browser you need the url or web address of the video. This can be a challenge with some websites. Most websites do not want you downloading their videos so they usually don't make it easy for you to download it or get the web address to the video.

The two most common ways to get the url of the video you want to download ...

• Right click the video which produces a context menu that allows you copy the video address to the computers clipboard.
• Right click the web page which produces a context menu allowing you to view the HTML source code of the web page where you can search for text in the HTML code for the most common video extensions (.mp4, .flv, etc).

Copy Video Url To Clipboard to Download it

Copy Video Url To Clipboard to Download it

How to Create a Link to the Video you Want to Download ⏬

1. Open a blank notepad file (Windows) or textedit (Mac).
2. Select the following text with the mouse and copy to memory with the keyboard (CTRL + C for Windows or Command-C for Mac) .
3. Paste this text into the text editor.
4. Replace VIDEO-URL with the full url or web address to the video you want to download.
5. Save the file to your computer as video-download.html.
6. Go to where you saved this file and double click to open it as a web page.
7. Click on the link you created with the text Download Video.
8. If this causes the video to play instead of download or just displays garbage text in the web browser then ...
   • Press the BACKSPACE key on the keyboard to navigate back to the page you just created.
   • Right click on the link.
   • From the context menu that appears click on Save as or Save link as, depending on the web browser.
   • Download the video to where ever you wish on your computer.

Create Link To Video to Download Video

Create Link To Video to Download Video

Free Tool to Create Video Download Link

You can use the free tool here to create the link to enable you to download a video.

Enter the URL or web address to the video you want to download.
• Click the Create Link to Video button.
• A link to the video will produced below. Right click on the link and from the context menu click Save Link as
  Create Video Download Link