Five steps, and what goes wrong at each one

What you need in front of you before you start

Two things: the video open in a tab or an app, and somewhere on your device with room for the file. Nothing is installed, no account is created and no email address is asked for.

The whole sequence takes under a minute when it goes well. The steps below are in order, and each one ends with the failure that belongs to it.

Step one: copy the address of the page holding the video

On a desktop, click into the address bar while the video is playing and copy the whole line. On a phone, use the app's share button and choose the option that copies a link.

What goes wrong here: you copy an address that describes a collection rather than one video. A channel, a profile, a playlist, a feed or a page of search results has no single file behind it. How to tell: look at the address you copied and ask whether it names one video. If the answer is the account or the topic rather than the video, open the video on its own page first and copy again.

Step two: paste the address into the box on this page

Put the cursor in the field and paste. Nothing needs to be typed and nothing needs to be trimmed.

What goes wrong here: the paste is incomplete or has picked up something extra. A selection dragged by hand stops short of the end, a chat message wraps a bracket or a full stop around the link, and a link broken across two lines arrives with a gap in the middle. How to tell: read the box before pressing anything. The text should start with http and end with the last character of the address, with no spaces inside it.

Step three: press Analyze and wait for the list

Analyze opens the page the way a browser does and reports the video files it is serving. A pause of a few seconds is normal, and a longer pause on a heavy page is also normal.

What goes wrong here: the list comes back empty. That answer is accurate rather than broken, and it has a small number of causes. The page requires a sign-in, the video sits behind a payment, the post has been deleted, or the broadcast is still live and no finished file exists yet. How to tell: open the same address in a private browsing window. If you cannot see the video there while signed out, we cannot either.

Step four: choose a row using its two figures

Each row carries a height in pixels and a size in megabytes. Taller means more detail on a large screen; more megabytes means more data spent per second, which shows during fast movement. An audio-only row appears when the source publishes sound separately.

What goes wrong here: the row you want is above the 150 MB single-file ceiling on free use. How to tell: the size on the row is the deciding figure, and a panel names the limit if you press ahead. The next row down is the same recording with fewer pixels per frame, and Pro removes the ceiling along with the daily count and the advertising.

Step five: press Download file and leave the tab open

Our servers fetch the file you chose, and it then travels to you. Your browser writes it into the Downloads folder on a desktop, or into device storage or the Files app on a phone.

What goes wrong here: the tab is closed, or the device sleeps, before the transfer finishes. A prepared file also sits on a short timer, so a long gap between preparing and saving lets it expire. How to tell: your browser's download list shows a stalled or cancelled entry and the file on disk is far smaller than the row said. Start the same row again and stay on the page until the entry reads as complete.

Checking the file once the transfer has finished

Open it once now rather than discovering a problem on the evening you need it. Play a few seconds from the start, drag to the middle, and confirm the sound is there.

Compare the size on disk against the figure the row showed. A close match means the file arrived whole. A file that is a fraction of the stated size is a broken transfer, and taking the row again is the fix. Once it plays, the copy is yours and it keeps working with no connection.

Related pages

• A first download for someone who has never done this
• The tool itself and how to read the offered files
• What counts as a usable link
• Finding and keeping the finished file
• What your connection does during the transfer