It is likely that you have heard and used VLC media player for playing streaming videos. But it is more likely that you are fooled by its name — VLC media player is by no means a one-trick pony. Instead, it is a feature-packed powerful tool which is not only capable of playing streaming videos but also able to download videos from all the popular websites, like YouTube.
Today, you are going to learn about how to download video with VLC on Mac/Windows and solve a series of problems involved when using it all in one passage.
CONTENTS
Today, you are going to learn about how to download video with VLC on Mac/Windows and solve a series of problems involved when using it all in one passage. Download VLC 2.2.1 for Mac from our software library for free. The unique identifier for this program's bundle is org.videolan.vlc. Our antivirus check shows that this Mac download is malware free. The software is included in Audio & Video Tools. The latest installer takes up 33.7 MB on disk.
- 1. VLC's Hidden Feature — Download Video from Internet
- 2. Problems Tackled in YouTube Downloading Using VLC
- 3. An Alternative to VLC for Downloading Web Video Including YouTube
VLC's Hidden Feature — Download Video from Internet
VideoLAN, VLC, VLC media player and x264 are trademarks internationally registered by the VideoLAN non-profit organization. VideoLAN software is licensed under various open-source licenses: use and distribution are defined by each software license. Design by Made By Argon. Some icons are licensed under the CC BY-SA 3.0+. Can VLC Play Blu-ray Movie on Mac? VLC is one of the free Mac Blu-ray players. In this part, the way to play Blu-ray movies with VLC on Mac will be described in detail as below steps. It is similar to that of on Windows computer. Download the latest version of VLC for Mac OS X from Videolan.org. Based on your download you may be interested in these articles and related software titles. Macintosh / Audio and Video / Video / Video viewers. POPULAR VLC for Mac (VideoLAN) 2.0.6. File size: 42.61 MB. VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player.
In fact, there are two methods to download videos with VLC. Here I will introduce the easier one. Please follow the steps below with VLC downloading a YouTube video as an example.
Step 1. Fire up VLC
Vlc Download For Mac
After installing VLC media player to your Windows or Mac, fire it up.
Step 2. Copy the Video URL from YouTube
Go for the video on YouTube and copy the link from the browser’s address bar above the page.
Step 3. Paste the Video URL into VLC and Start Playing
On Windows:
Click on 'Media' > 'Open Network Stream' in VLC main interface.
Then under the Network tab on the pop-up window, you should then enter the YouTube video URL that you have copied from YouTube. Press the 'Play' button to start playing the video.
On Mac:
Click on 'File' > 'Open Network', enter the YouTube video URL and click 'Open'.
Step 4. Get and Copy Codec Information of the YouTube Video
On Windows:
Hit 'Tools' > 'Codec Information' to copy the full URL besides the 'Location' title. This is the direct URL of the YouTube video.
On Mac:
Select the YouTube video in VLC, hit 'Window' > 'Media Information'. You are looking for the 'Location' input box.
Step 5. Enter the URL into Address Bar and Download the YouTube Video
Open a web browser page and paste the copied Location URL into the address bar before hitting 'Enter' on your keyboard. More clicks of 'Save' button might be needed after that, which depends on the video link and the setting of your browser.
Problems Tackled in YouTube Downloading Using VLC
Now, have you learned about how to download YouTube videos using VLC yet? Don't worry if you encounter some problems when in practice. The first thing you need to do is to repeat the above steps more carefully in order to rule out the possibility of not following the right procedures. If that problem does continue to exist, you might need to read the second part of the passage. We have listed some common problems involved in saving video from websites with VLC and given out our solutions.
Problem 1:
'Sadly this didn't work for me. It downloaded the video but instead of getting a playable video I get a file called 'file' in my download folder.'
Solution A: Put an extension to the file name when it gives you 'Enter file name', like '.mp4' or '.avi'.
Solution B: Use a video converter to convert the file into '.mp4'.
Problem 2:
'I could download some YouTube videos with VLC while others didn't work.'
Vlc For Mac Installer
Solution: Check if the video is tagged 'Age-restricted video (based on Community Guidelines)'. If that is the case, the video will NOT download using the established method due to YouTube policies. There is no way of getting rid of it. So try VLC alternatives.
An Alternative to VLC for Downloading Web Video Including YouTube
The built-in download feature of VLC cannot go without drawbacks since it is not an expert in video download. Indeed, some videos are highly protected by their website program and prevented from grabbing by VLC. To solve such a problem, I suggest you to try some online tools to download videos from popular websites for offline viewing.
VideoSolo Online Video Downloader is one of the best free online downloaders on the internet for grabbing YouTube videos. Aside from YouTube, it claims to support Facebook, Instagram, Dailymotion, Vimeo, SoundCloud, etc. in almost all browsers and all operating systems including Mac/Windows/Android/iOS. With a clean and intuitive interface, VideoSolo Online Video Downloader is very easy to use within just several clicks.
In addition, VideoSolo now released a video downloader which can also download online videos easily.
You can take a try with it from the button below.
Follow the 3 steps to grab videos from the Internet easily with VideoSolo Online Video Downloader.
Step 1. Go to the page containing your loved video and copy the video link from the address bar above.
Step 2. Head to the VideoSolo Online Video Downloader homepage and paste the video link into the search box. Press the 'Download' button to the right of the box to interpret the video.
Step 3. After deciding on the output format and quality, hit the corresponding 'Download' button to the right hand. Then the browser immediately pops up a download dialog; if not, click the menu button > 'Download' on the pop-up window, or right-click the mouse and select 'Save as'.
Hope the above information can settle your problems when downloading videos with VLC on your Mac or Windows. If you are not so satisfied with VLC’s inherent download function, your best bet is to try VideoSolo Online Video Downloader, which is quite easy and efficient to use.