How to Download a Movie to My Laptop

You may be able to find a WiFi connection in most places to stream movies, but there will always be some places where it just can't be done – like onboard an airplane, for instance. For these places, being able to download a movie to your laptop can be a happy convenience. The choices out there for places that let you legally download movies are more varied than many realize.

Purchasing movies on iTunes not only allows you to download these movies to your iPhone or iPad, it also enables you to download the movies on your laptop. You can play the downloaded copy even if you're offline. Download iTunes and sign up for a free Apple ID if you don't already have one. Click the "Store" tab in the top corner and then select "Movies." Search for the movie you want to download from iTunes and click on it. Click the "Buy" button to purchase the movie and then type in your Apple ID if prompted to. Hit the "Download" button below the movie's thumbnail to download a copy of it to your computer. You can double-click on the movie at any point in the future to play it on your laptop. The movie will play through the iTunes player.

Amazon is another option for movie downloads. Like iTunes, you can download the movie purchased from Amazon and play it even when offline. Go to amazon.com, type the name of your movie into the search box, then click the drop-down box button next to this. Select "Movies & TV." Click your movie and then hit the "Buy" option next to the title. Hit the top "Menu" option and select "Your Video Library." Click your purchased movie and then click the "Download" button to save a copy on your laptop. You can play this with standard video players on your laptop.

It's commonly thought that downloading movies for free is illegal, however it isn't with archive websites that have licensing to distribute certain movies. Archive.org/details/feature_films is a nonprofit digital library that has thousands of movies free to download. These movies span many years and genres, so it's worth a look to see if any you want are available on the site. Download a movie from this site by visiting the link and typing the name for the movie you want to download in the "Search this collection" box on the side bar. Hit the "Enter" key to show the results for your search. Click on the movie you want and then click either the "MPEG2" or "OGG Video" options under Download Options. It is usually best to click MPEG2 since this is compatible with most video players.

Netflix now allows subscribers to download movies to their laptop for offline playback. This feature is available on the Windows 10 app version of Netflix. You won't be able to download the movies directly from your laptop web browser since Netflix doesn't allow this yet. You also won't be able to download everything on Netflix; only certain videos are available for offline playback. Open the Netflix app on your computer and search for the movie you want to download. Click on that movie to see the preview page for it and then hit the "Download" button. You can now play this movie on Netflix even if your laptop is offline.