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.

If you want to download videos from all popular video streaming services, now you just need this free online video downloader as a single solution to download video from any site. It not only allows you to download online videos from YouTube, but also other websites, including Vimeo, Dailymotion, Vevo, Metacafe, LiveLeak, MyVideo, Facebook. Download record streaming video for free. Design & Photo downloads - Movavi Screen Capture by Movavi and many more programs are available for instant and free download. For Mac user, it is hard to record the online video, screen or streaming music. Fortunately, Free Video Downloader for Mac software is an effective way to download and convert videos for Mac. Being compared with the online application, the professional software excels at its accelerated downloading speed, expanded video formats, great stability and more complete functions. Whether the video you are streaming is using embedded or external audio tracks, JustStream works with both types and will stream them along with your video in a perfect sync. Download and install JustStream on the Mac or MacBook you want to mirror screen on. Open JustStream once installed.

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

• 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

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

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.'

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.

MY DOWNLOAD TUBE

The site is quite nifty and clean, not brimming with ads, only some pop ups. There are some features you will find useful in the free movie sites. For example, there are plenty of genres to choose from, such as comedy, thriller, action, drama, family, adult, etc. The other feature I especially like is that it offers three options, watch trailer, watch online, download. Before you save movies to Android, iPhone, MacBook Pro/Air, iPad, you can watch trailer and decide whether the movie is worth your time to capture. Detailed movie info, like plot, review, rating, file size is provided. To grab full movie on MacBook Pro/Air from this site, you can just choose the movie and click Download button. It takes some time to load the movie and most movies are in SD res, 1080p/4K resolution is not available.

YIFY Movies

YIFY Movies is a good place to download HD movies on MacBook Pro. There are movies available in 720P, 1080P, 2160P 4k and 3D quality in small file size. You can view the details of a movie, including the genre, rating, size, length, resolutions, etc. You can start to download a movie on MacBook immediately without the need to register. However, as movie download is not allowed in many countries, the site suggests you to use s VPN to do it. Besides, the random redirects are quite annoying.

Download Videos On Mac

1337x Movies

1337x Movies makes it easy to find movies for MacBook Pro offline playback. There are categories of Movie Library, TV Library, Top 100, New TVs, Anime, Music, and more. You can choose to stream via the site, or anonymous download. In fact, the site are regularly blocked by ISPs and mirror sites spring up. Like other online movie sites, you'd better use a VPN to hide your IP. In a word, there isn't a movie site that's 100% safe. Use them carefully.

DivX Crawler [Discontinued]

Download Streaming Video On Mac

DivX Crawler is highly recommended, clean, no poping ups. You can find no places like this where you can find so many movies. It adds new movies daily, you can download new Hollywood movies to MacBook now, like The Jungle Book, The Post, Get Out, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, to name just a few. No sign up, no subscribtion, it is a fantastic site for free movie downloads for MacBook Pro/Air/, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android. For free users, there's selection limits. Paid members have access to more new blockbusters.

Urgrove[Discontinued]

How To Download Youtube Videos On Mac

The site also offers access to save free Disney movies, Hindi blockbusters and other free films from all over the world. It has great interface and it adds new movies frequently, though not daily. The site is OK to resort to download movies on MacBook Pro/Air. No register required. My hate is that it has plenty of movie links, and most of them lead me to malicious sites. I have to try every possible links to dig out the real one to download the movie on Mac, which is really annoying.