Download a video from a URL

Which part of a URL matters

A URL that reaches a video has three working parts: the host name, the path, and whichever query parameter identifies the video. Everything after that is bookkeeping added by whoever shared the address.

You do not have to separate those parts yourself. Paste the whole thing. Vidzilla loads the address, follows any redirect it hits, and reads the video files the resulting page is serving. What it returns is a list of real files with a resolution and a size in megabytes on every row.

Tracking parameters and long query strings

A URL copied out of a chat message, a newsletter, or an analytics report often carries a tail of parameters that describe where the click came from rather than which video it opens. Leave them in place. They are read and ignored.

Trimming a URL by hand is where downloads go wrong, because the video identifier and the tracking tag sit in the same query string and look alike. If you want a shorter address to store somewhere, open the URL in a browser first, let the page settle, and copy the address the page ends on.

• Safe to leave attached: campaign, referral, and session parameters appended after the video identifier.
• Safe to leave attached: a timestamp parameter that starts playback partway through. The whole file is still downloaded.
• Risky to remove by hand: any parameter whose value is the video identifier, because the address then opens a home page.
• Worth removing: nothing. Pasting more of the URL never costs you anything.

URLs that point straight at a media file

Some URLs end in a file extension and lead to the video itself rather than to a page about the video. These come out of embed code, RSS enclosures, API responses, and content management systems. Vidzilla accepts them.

The result looks different from a watch page. A direct media URL has one encoding behind it, so Analyze returns a single row instead of a set of resolutions to choose between. That row is the file the source is publishing at that address, and there is no higher-resolution version to offer.

A direct URL that has been signed with an expiry parameter works while the signature is valid and returns nothing after it lapses. When that happens, go back to the page the URL came from and copy a fresh one.

URLs that were wrapped or cut short when copied

Email clients, spreadsheets, PDFs, and terminal windows break long addresses across lines. Pasting the broken address gives you one half of a URL, and half a URL reaches nothing.

Check the end of what you pasted before pressing Analyze. A URL that stops mid-word, ends in a stray space, or carries a line break in the middle has been cut. Paste it into a plain text field, remove the breaks so it forms one continuous string, then bring it back here.

• A trailing bracket, quotation mark, or comma picked up from surrounding text belongs to the document, not to the address.
• An address displayed with an ellipsis in the middle has been shortened for display and cannot be repaired. Copy it from the underlying link instead.
• A URL split across two lines is one address. Join the halves with nothing between them.

When a URL returns an empty list

An empty result tells you the address does not lead to a public video file right now. The cause is normally visible in the URL itself.

Open the address in a fresh browser tab and watch what happens. If the video plays without you signing in, copy the address that tab ends on and try that. If a sign-in form, a payment page, or a removal notice loads instead, no downloader can reach the file.

• The path points at a channel, a feed, a profile, or a search query, so there is no single file behind it.
• The URL is an internal or intranet address that our servers cannot reach from the public internet.
• The signed parameters on a direct media URL have expired.
• The source is refusing automated requests for a moment. Pasting the same URL again shortly usually returns the list.

Free limits when the URL finally works

Once Analyze lists rows, free use still caps each completed file at 150 MB and three finished downloads per day, resetting at midnight UTC. Analyze itself does not spend a slot. Choosing a smaller height often keeps a long clip under the free ceiling without opening Pro.

After you click Download file, keep the tab open until the browser finishes writing the bytes. The saved item is an ordinary media file on your device. Rename it in your file manager so a pile of generic titles in Downloads does not hide the clip you meant to keep.

Pro lifts the daily count and the size ceiling when you need more capacity on the same paste-and-save path. Rights still belong to the publisher. A working URL is not a license to republish.

Related pages

• URL downloader
• Save an MP4 from a direct address
• Pull the audio out of a video URL
• Download video from a website
• What Analyze does with an address