Choosing the folder before a video lands on your PC
A phone puts downloads wherever it puts downloads. A desktop hands that decision to you, and it is worth making once rather than tidying up afterwards.
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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.
One browser setting decides where every download goes
Vidzilla prepares the file and your browser writes it, so the destination belongs to the browser rather than to this page. There is a single setting behind it, and out of the box it points at a folder called Downloads inside your user profile.
That default is a shared tray. Installers, spreadsheets, photographs and video all land in the same place, and cleanup tools treat the folder as temporary space. Changing the setting once, before you start saving video regularly, saves a great deal of sorting later.
Where the setting lives in each desktop browser
Every browser keeps this in its own settings, under a heading with the word downloads or files in it. The panel shows the current folder and a button to change it.
- Chrome: open the menu, choose Settings, then Downloads. The address chrome://settings/downloads goes straight there.
- Edge: open Settings, then Downloads. The address edge://settings/downloads goes straight there.
- Firefox: open Settings, stay on General, and scroll to Files and Applications.
- Safari on a Mac: open Settings from the Safari menu, stay on General, and look for the file download location.
Turning on the prompt that asks for each file
Beside the folder setting sits a switch that makes the browser ask where to save every file. With it on, pressing Download file opens your operating system's save dialog before anything transfers, and you choose the folder and the name there.
That dialog is the moment to give the video a name you will recognise. The name a source publishes is often a string of characters, and renaming inside the dialog costs nothing while renaming a folder full of them later costs an evening. Leave the extension on the end exactly as the dialog offers it.
When the prompt earns its keep and when it gets in the way
The prompt is worth having when your saved videos belong in different places, when you are filing material for a project, or when you are working on a machine several people use and want each file put somewhere deliberate.
It is a nuisance when you are working through a list of addresses in one sitting, because a dialog opens between you and every file. For that kind of session, switch the prompt off, point the default folder at the place the batch belongs, and switch the prompt back on afterwards.
Sending video to a second drive instead of the system disk
Desktops and laptops frequently have a fast, small system drive and a larger second drive, and video is exactly the kind of file that belongs on the larger one. The folder setting accepts any path the machine can write to, including a second internal disk or an external drive.
Two cautions apply to an external drive. The browser writes to the path it was given, and if the drive is not plugged in when the transfer starts, the download fails rather than falling back somewhere sensible. A drive formatted as exFAT is readable on both Windows and macOS, which matters if the video is going to travel between machines.
What the desktop gives you that a phone does not
The same page, the same results list and the same file arrive on both. The difference is room and control. A desktop has the disk space for a top row on a long recording, a folder structure you decide, and a screen wide enough to read the size figure on every row before choosing.
It also has mains power and a settings panel where you can stop the machine sleeping mid-transfer, which is the practical reason large files are worth saving here rather than on a phone.
Free use on a desktop
A free account saves three files a day with a 150 MB ceiling on each, and the count refills at midnight UTC. With Pro the daily count and the size ceiling both go, and the advertising goes with them.
Keep the tab open until the transfer finishes, because a prepared file expires on a short timer. Once the file is written to the folder you chose, it is yours and it plays with the connection switched off.
Questions about saving video on a desktop
Can I stop videos going into the same folder as everything else I download?
Yes. Change the download folder in your browser's settings to a folder you keep for video, and every file from then on is written there.
Where is the download setting in Chrome and Edge?
In Settings under Downloads. Typing chrome://settings/downloads or edge://settings/downloads into the address bar opens the panel directly.
What does the ask-where-to-save switch actually change?
It opens your operating system's save dialog before each transfer, so you set the folder and the file name at that moment instead of accepting the default.
Can the browser save straight onto an external hard drive?
Yes, by pointing the download folder at a path on that drive. The drive has to be connected when the transfer starts, or the download fails outright.
Should I rename a video in the save dialog or afterwards?
In the dialog, while you still know what the file is. Keep the extension the dialog offers, and change only the part of the name in front of it.
Is a desktop better suited to large files than a phone?
It has the disk space, mains power and a settings panel to stop the machine sleeping partway through, so a long recording at a high row is a more sensible job for it.