Video links inside documents
A lecture handout, a training PDF, or a slide deck often carries the address of a video instead of the video itself. Here is how to get from that address to a file on your own storage.
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Paste a public video or playlist URL.
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and 1000+ more — including YouTube Reels, Shorts & Stories, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and regional hosts.
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook, Vimeo, Reddit, Dailymotion, Twitch, and 1000+ more.
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Files go straight to your device.
The document holds an address, not a video
A course handout, a conference deck, and a training manual are text files. When one of them refers to a video, what it contains is the address of a page somewhere else. Open the document a year later and the text is still there while the video behind the address has moved or gone.
That is the reason to save the file while the address still resolves. Vidzilla reads the page at that address and returns the video files the page is serving, each row with a resolution and a size in megabytes. You pick a row and the file transfers to your device.
Getting a clean address out of a PDF
A PDF shows a link in one of two ways. Sometimes the whole address is printed as visible text. Sometimes a short phrase such as watch the recording is clickable and the address is stored underneath it.
When the address is printed, select it with the cursor, copy it, and read what you pasted before pressing Analyze. PDF selection frequently drags in a trailing bracket, a full stop from the end of the sentence, or a line break in the middle of a long address. Delete the surrounding punctuation and close up any gap where the line wrapped.
When the address is hidden behind a phrase, right-click the phrase and choose the option to copy the link address. Every reader offers that option under some wording, and it hands you the address as stored, with no selection errors to repair.
Slide decks, spreadsheets, and handouts
In a slide deck the address usually sits in a speaker note, or on a slide as display text with a real address behind it. Open the slide in editing mode, click into the text, and copy the link from the editing toolbar or the right-click menu. In presentation mode a click opens the page instead, which works as well: let the page load, then copy the address out of the browser bar.
A spreadsheet cell holding a link behaves the same way. Click the cell once, look at the formula bar, and copy the address from there rather than from the cell itself, since the cell frequently displays a label.
When the address opens a viewer instead of a video
Some addresses in documents point at a document viewer rather than at a video page. You press Analyze, no rows come back, and the address opens a preview of a file inside a web viewer when you visit it in a browser.
That result means the address refers to a stored file in a drive or a learning platform, and the page you land on is an interface around it rather than a page serving video. Open the address in your browser, start the video, and look for a control that opens it on its own page. Copy that address and paste it here.
A learning platform that asks you to sign in before the video plays cannot be read from outside your session. Analyze returns an empty list, which is the accurate answer about that address.
When the handout only prints a shortened address
Printed material often carries a short address because a full one takes three lines on paper. A shortened address usually works here, because a redirect is followed to whatever sits at the other end.
Two situations need a step from you. If the short address lands on a page of course material with the video somewhere inside it, open the video from that page and copy the address you end up on. If the short address was typed out on paper and you retyped it, check every character before pressing Analyze, since one wrong letter in a short code produces a different destination rather than an error.
From address to saved file
Paste the address into the box at the top of this page and press Analyze. Choose a row from the results and press Download file. Keep the tab open until the transfer finishes; the file lands in your Downloads folder on a computer, or in device storage on a phone.
There is no account and no email address involved. Free use has a file size ceiling, which a recorded lecture at full resolution can exceed. When that happens, take a smaller row from the same list, or raise the ceiling with Pro, which also removes advertising.
Questions about links in documents
The address in my PDF has a space in the middle of it. What do I do?
That space is where the line wrapped in the document. Delete it so the address is one unbroken string, then press Analyze. If you are not sure where the break was, right-click the link in the PDF and copy the link address instead of selecting the text.
Can I paste the PDF itself into Vidzilla?
No. Vidzilla reads a video address. Take the address out of the document first and paste that.
A slide has the words watch this instead of an address. How do I get the link?
Right-click those words in editing mode and copy the link address. If the deck is open in presentation mode, click the words, let the page open in your browser, and copy the address from the browser bar.
The link from my course handout opens a sign-in page. Can Vidzilla get past that?
No. Vidzilla does not hold your credentials, so it sees the sign-in page rather than the video. Analyze returns nothing for that address.
The document is old and the link no longer opens anything. Is the video recoverable?
Not through a downloader. If the host removed the video, there is no file at that address to read.
The address opens a document preview with a video inside it. Which address should I use?
Open the video on its own page from inside that viewer, then copy the address of that page. The viewer address describes an interface around a stored file, and Analyze finds no video rows on it.