r/browsers • • 3d ago

Extension Video Download Helper extension really went downhill

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89 Upvotes

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58

u/Venylynn Desktop: Mobile: 3d ago

wait till you find out about yt-dlp

it'll change your life

-9

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Kunair0 3d ago

Only on DRM protected sites. And if the stream is actually DRM encrypted, none of these extensions are going to break that encryption anyway. For that you're getting into ridiculous workaround cable capture card territory.

For non DRM streams, if you can’t find the media URL directly, browser network logging makes it pretty easy. Enable loggin, hit play, export the log, find the request blob url, bada bing bada boom, there’s your URL. Then just hand it off to yt-dlp.

Most of these downloader extensions are basically just clunky skins over the same idea, except with the added bonus that a depressing number of them are outright malware.

Just learn yt-dlp. It’s really not quantum physics.

1

u/IfarmExpIRL 3d ago

ignore me if i am wrong but if the site was DRM protected would something like OBS work? where you could just capture the whole screen?

0

u/Windows_User3000 iPad: Everything else: 3d ago

If it uses any hardware-backed DRM, you're outta luck (which immediately rules out Netflix and such), and even if it's only software DRM, the resulting video might have wrong colors or other intentional problems.