As much as video services would like to pretend we’re always online and perfectly happy with streaming, there are plenty of times when people want offline access — for a trip, say, or to ensure a favorite video doesn’t suddenly vanish. If you’ve got Google Chrome on your desktop or laptop, there are a number of video downloader extensions to choose from.
The best video downloader extensions for Chrome
We’re only going to recommend a small handful of options here, not the least because every extension is aiming towards an identical goal. Think of this list more as a set of backup choices — downloaders can easily come and go given their questionable legality. In fact, Google tries to outright block extensions from downloading from YouTube, though the reality is that it’s not hard to bypass those limits.
We suggest following our direct links to get these recommendations rather than searching the Chrome Web Store, unless you specifically want options on top of the ones we’ve listed. A lot of downloaders share similar names, as you can see.
Video Downloader for Chrome
This extension supports sites like Facebook, Twitter, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and Instagram. When you’ve found a video, you just click the extension icon to open download options, including resolutions up to 4K (where available). You can save in different file formats as well.
The extension is free to use, but the developer is upfront in admitting that success isn’t guaranteed. It has to scour a webpage for video file links, and if they’re somehow obscured, you’ll get a “video not found” message. That’s a potential issue with any downloader, however.
Video Downloader Pro
Video Downloader Pro is free, and said to work with both music and video webpages at a 98% success rate. We’re skeptical of that figure — what criteria are they using? — but the extension has many positive reviews, and supports a range of file formats including ASF, AVI, FLV, MP3, MP4, MPEG, and more.
Video Downloader Plus
Video Downloader Plus is one of the best-reviewed downloaders in the entire Chrome Web Store, and like Video Downloader for Chrome explicitly supports sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vimeo, and Dailymotion. Save formats include ASF, AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4, MPG, WEBM, and others.
Away from the Chrome Web Store, the extension’s developer claims support for sites like YouTube, Twitch, and Vevo. That would probably make it the lead option on our list if it weren’t for a paywall — while most downloads are free, you’ll have to pony up if you want to download in 4K resolution.
