How to Download Online Videos to your Mac

Are you the one who wants to download online videos from any website to the Mac for repurposing? You must be wondering how to download videos online if there is no download option in it. What you can do is try some other techniques to download the online videos to your Mac.

In this article, I am going to run through the best and easiest techniques to download online videos for you. Each of the options comes with its own benefits. So, if you are the one who wants to know how to download online videos to the Mac, then make sure to stay with me till the end so you can find and use the best option for you.

Using Elmedia Player to Download Online Videos to your Mac

The first option to download online videos to your Mac is using the Elmedia player. Elmedia player is a free media player for macOS. It is one of the easiest and quickest ways to download online videos and doesn’t require additional plugins. This software offers you advanced playback and streaming options. This app supports any type of file format like AVI, MP4, FLV, SWF, MP3, MKV, WMV, and many more.

However, if you want more options and benefits from this app, you can purchase the Elmedia Player PRO, which might cost you a little. But, if you regularly download online videos, then the PRO feature can give you much more benefits. Here are the steps to understand how to download online videos on the Mac using Elmedia Player.

1. Go to the video you want to download using any web browser.
2. After navigating to that video, copy the link and open it in Elmedia Player.
3. Once you have the link for the webpage, open the Elmedia Player, and you will need to click the download button.
4. Now paste the link into the address bar, and press enter to load the website with the video you wanted to download.
5. Start playing the video until the Elmedia Player detects the video, as soon as it starts playing, you can pause the video.
6. Now you can download the video easily using the video tab, the type like mp4/avi will also show up.
7. Lastly, you can press download, and the video will be going to save to your downloads folder.

Using a Web Downloader to Download the Online Videos to your Mac

Another method to download online videos is the web downloader. It is a free online application that helps you to download online videos you want to watch offline on your Mac.

There are many web downloader apps available in the market. Some of them are specially built for websites like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and many others.

Today, we are going to use the 9XBuddy website. 9XBuddy is one of the best top web downloaders that can download any online videos from more than hundreds of websites. With 9XBuddy, you can download any online video very easily and quickly. Following are the steps to download online videos using 9XBuddy.

1. Navigate to the video you want to download.
2. Copy the URL of the video that you want to download.
3. On your Mac, go to the 9XBuddy website and paste the copied link in the space the website provided.
4. Click on the download button. The website will be going to analyze the URL and provide you with the different options to download the video.
5. The 9XBuddy will provides you with multiple versions of the videos available in the given URL.
6. The 9XBuddy website then detects and provides download links for each of them.
7. Click the Download button for your desired version of the video and wait for a few minutes.
8. The video will be going to open in the browser window, where you can download the video. 

Remember, after clicking the download window if its stuck on the Download Launched pop up, then click outside the popup and click the Download button again.

Use Screen Recording Feature to Download Online Videos on your Mac

One of the easiest methods to download videos on your Mac is using the screen recording feature. Now, if you don’t want to use any media player or website to download online videos, then you can use the in-built screen recording feature and save it to your Mac.

This option is best when you can’t download a video because of a copyright problem or other reasons. As you already know, the Mac offers you a built-in screen recording option which you can use to record videos, or you can use the QuickTime Player app if you wanted to. Here are the steps to do so:

1. On your Mac, go to the video you want to download.
2. Press Command + Shift + 5 together to open the screenshot toolbar appear.
3. On the screenshot toolbar, click either Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion, and choose the portion you want to record.
4. Click the Record button to start the process and the Stop button when you are done with the recording.
5. Once done recording, right-click on the recording file, which appears in the bottom right of the screen, and then use the menu to save it wherever you want. 

If you want to use the QuickTime app, then choose the File option in QuickTime and select New Screen Recording to record and download your videos. 

Use Google Chrome to Download the Online Videos

The second option you can use to download the online videos to your Mac is Google Chrome. In this method, you don’t need any software, as well as you don’t have to purchase anything. Unfortunately, this method can be more confusing for some than the above method. Follow the given below steps to download the online videos to your Mac using Google Chrome.

1. On your Mac, open Google Chrome.
2. Go to the video you wanted to download using Google Chrome.
3. Open the developer’s console in Google chrome.
4. To open the developer’s console, click anywhere on the background of the website by making sure the video is not selected, then press COMMAND-SHIFT-I on Mac’s keyboard.
5. Reload the page for the elements of the page to appear in the Developer’s Console. 
6. To reload the page, again click on the background of the website, and press APPLE-R using your Mac’s keyboard.
7. Once the page is reloaded, you can see the various elements of the page appear in the Developer’s Console.
8. Click the play button to start playing the video for it to load.
9. Wait for a few minutes to load the video, once it’s loaded and starts playing, then click the pause button.
10. After pausing it, look for the video you want to download in the Developer’s Console window.
11. When you found the video with the type that says MP4/FLV or something else then you have found your video from that page.
12. Once you found the video with your required type, double-click the name part of the video.
13. Once you double-click the video it will be going to open up in a new window.
14. Go to that window, and wait for a few to load the page. Remember it will take some time to load, so kindly don’t close the tab, you can do some other work while waiting for it to load.
15. Once it is loaded, the video will be going to start playing in the center of the page.
16. Just pause the video, control-click anywhere on the video, and select Save Video As from the drop-down menu.
17. A dialog box will pop up, asking options what you want to name the video and where to save the video on your Mac. And that’s it!! You are done downloading the video to your Mac.

Using Safari on Mac to Download the Online Video to your Mac

You can use the built-in Safari app on your Mac to download online videos to your Mac. When you are surfing any page or video in safari on a Mac computer, you can click on the link to download any videos on your Mac. In this method, you don’t have to download any software or application. Here are the steps to download the Online Video to your Mac using Safari on Mac.

1. In the Safari app on your Mac, use Control-click on the video you want to download, and then select Download Linked File.
2. Click on the Show Downloads button located at the upper right of the browser window.
3. From here you can view a list of saved videos and other files.
4. Once Show Downloads is clicked, the downloads panel will be displayed with a list of files that have been downloaded or are in a process of downloading.
5. Stop or pause a downloading process by clicking on the Stop button displayed to the right of the file name.
6. Click on the download button to download your online video onto your Mac.
7. Once downloaded, the given Search button next to each file name in the list can be used to find the storage location of the downloaded file on the computer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Download Online Videos from any Website Without Using Software?

Yes, you can download videos on your Mac without any software. Firstly, you have to find the video you want to download. Copy the URL of the video you want to download, paste it onto your desired video-grabbing site, and click download.

What is the Best Online Video Downloader App for Mac?

There are a hefty amount of video downloader apps available in the market that helps you to download online videos. 9XBuddy, and VideoDuke apps are the best video downloader apps in which users can download movies and TV shows easily.

How Do I Save a Video to My Mac?

To save your video on your Mac, pause the video, control-click anywhere on the video, and select Save Video As from the drop-down menu. Once done with that, a dialog box will be going to appear asking you what you want to name the video and where you want to save it.

Conclusion

I know downloading online videos to your Mac might be confusing for some people. But, I hope you understand how to do that easily after reading this guide. Sadly, there are not many websites available that come with a download button with it. But, you can download online videos now using a few steps and use them for offline purposes.

I have explained many different methods to download online videos on the Mac, you can use any of them as per your requirement. For starting, it can be difficult to understand the process, but after paying more attention you can download videos quickly. So, did you yet download your favourite video onto your Mac?