How to Download a Video Through Its Source Address?

If you find a video online that you like and want to download the video from the web page it's on, you may be able to save it directly from your web browser or download it with a specialized tool. If you have a direct link to a movie file such as a .mov or .mp4 file, you can usually save it directly. If you want to save embedded video from a site like xHamster or YouTube, you may need to use a special tool. Make sure you understand the legal consequences of downloading any online media.

If someone sends you a link directly to an actual video file online, you can save it from your web browser. On most browsers, go to the "File" menu and click "Save" to save it to your computer. These links usually have video file extensions like .mov, .mp4, .ogv or in the case of some animated images, .gif.

There are two types of embedded video you may find online.

Some are embeddings of actual video files or animated GIFs using hypertext markup language features like the "video" or "img" tag. These you find by looking at the source code of a website using the "View Source" feature in your browser or by using a debugging tool to find the video source in a page.

Use the debugging interfaces in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to list the embedded media in a page or to inspect a particular element and find the corresponding HTML code. From there, you can see the address of the actual embedded video file, open it in a new window or tab and save it to your computer as with a standalone video file.

Other embedded videos are embedded through services like Vimeo, YouTube and other video-hosting services. If you want to save an embedded video hosted through such a service, you may need to use a specialized tool.

If a video you're watching is hosted on a service like YouTube, Facebook or Vimeo, check to see if there's a direct link to download it or save it to your device. If there isn't, you likely need to use a specialized tool.

There are a lot of tools available to download videos from these sites. Some of the simplest programs are available for free, including WinX Video Downloader for Windows and the cross-platform command line tool YouTube-DL which, despite the name, allows for downloads from sites beyond just YouTube.

You can also find web-based utilities and web browser extensions to help with this task, as well as paid tools with more features. Make sure to use one you trust to avoid getting malware on your device.

Copyright law often restricts your ability to download and redistribute materials you find online. Some websites' terms of service may have restrictions on what you do with online videos as well. Make sure you understand the legalities of downloading and using videos you find online.