The video button

Save a video

1. Play the video in a browser with Ladle’s extension turned on. A Download video button appears on the video.

2. Click it. The menu lists the qualities the site offers, with an estimated size when the site shares one, plus Audio only when there’s a separate audio track.

3. Pick a quality and click the download button under the list. It names your choice, like Download 1080p. With category folders on, the video goes to the Video folder inside ~/Downloads/Ladle.

The button needs Ladle’s browser extension. If you haven’t turned it on yet, see Set up your browser.

Which videos get the button

Ladle adds the button to videos that play:

• A plain video file, such as an .mp4, .webm or .mov. Ladle saves it as it is.
• An unencrypted HLS stream, the kind that comes in many small pieces. Ladle joins the pieces into one file: an .mp4 when the stream is made of MP4 pieces, or a .ts file when it’s made of MPEG-TS pieces.

Videos delivered any other way, such as MPEG-DASH streams, don’t get a button. Ladle doesn’t use site-specific tricks to dig videos out of pages, so what you see is what the page itself serves.

Protected video stays protected

If a video is encrypted or uses the browser’s copy protection (Encrypted Media Extensions), the button is switched off and says Protected video can’t be saved. Ladle never gets around protection, and there’s no setting to change that.

Caution

Only save videos you’re allowed to. Some sites’ terms don’t allow downloading, even when the video isn’t protected, so check before you save.