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In recent years, the rise in popularity of video streaming has eliminated the need to clutter our local storage devices with video files. On-demand streaming brings in a lot of conveniences no one can deny. All that is needed is the video URL and perhaps a subscription to start watching the content. However, there are times when watching a stream just once isn’t enough. What if you need to have the video locally for reference purposes? What if you need to rewatch at a time when you are out of network coverage with no access to the Internet?
Besides, some of us just prefer to have videos locally, especially those with some pretty good rewatch value. This is why quite a number of internet users show a lot of interest in downloading video streams and saving them locally.
Introducing VideoDuke
There are several software programs specifically built for this purpose and picking the right one might not be as simple as a walk in the park. For macOS, there are certain popular options with VideoDuke being of the few that totally stand out. VideoDuke is a mac software program that lets you easily download videos on mac from websites such as Vimeo, Daily Motion, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and so on. As a matter of fact, this application supports over a thousand websites.
Although it has an easy-to-use interface that makes it look rather simple, this application performs exactly as advertised with a number of added features to make the whole process as seamless as possible.
When you launch this program for the first time, it shows you the three different download modes available. Each of these works differently and whichever you stick to depends on your personal preference. From my own experience and being the advanced user that I am, the Advanced mode is actually my favorite. This provides elaborate details on all file formats and resolutions available to download. However, I have to emphasize that this is a personal choice. Other modes work just as great!
Browser Experience
This mode works like a regular web browser and lets you surf around your favorite video sites within the app. As soon as the video starts playing, available download formats and resolutions are displayed at the bottom pane. You only need to select the right one and click the download button to save the video locally to your device.
Simple Mode
With this mode, copying and pasting a video stream URL directly to the address bar displays formats available to download. This method can be useful when you are in the middle of a browsing session and stumble across a video stream you would like to save. Copying the URL from your browser and pasting in this app does the trick.
This mode is probably the easiest and most straightforward way to use this application.
Advanced mode
The Simple Mode window has a link that takes you to the Advanced Mode. Basically, this is more or less the browser mode discussed earlier. The full site where the video is located is displayed with all available resolutions and formats displayed.
Browser Integration
While this isn’t available by default, you can create a shortcut in your browser that takes you straight to the video downloader when you need to download a video. This saves you the extra clicks required to manually copy and paste URLs from the browser to the app. To activate browser integration:
- Go to VideoDuke > Browser Integration from the menu bar.
- Drag the button into the bookmarks bar.
Whenever you’re watching a video on any of the supported websites, clicking this bookmark from the browser takes you VideoDuke and displays download options in Simple mode.
Other features:
Playlist download: Feeding the app a playlist link lets you easily save all videos in the playlist at a go.
Channel download: Pasting any channel’s link in the app’s address bar opens the channel in browser mode. Clicking the Videos tab should list all videos uploaded on the channel with download buttons.
4k/8k download: No matter the resolution or size of the video, VideoDuke has the capability to down videos up to 8k resolution.
Audio download: With millions of music videos available on VideoDuke makes it easy to just extract audio files with which you can populate your music library.
What does VideoDuke cost?
VideoDuke lets you test the software before purchase. The free trial, however, lets you download just two videos. Well, this should be enough to form an opinion on how well this program works. For the full version, a personal license costs $19.95, while the family pack for 3 Macs costs $39.95.
For a lifetime license you won’t ever need to renew yearly, this is quite affordable. Is VideoDuke worth the price? For the features it offers and how great it works, it sure does.