How to download a video file in Google Chrome

I like to download some of the shows from Channel 9. This was no problem in Opera, but in Google Chrome I'm not quite sure how to do this. When I click on a link to a wmv file it starts to stream it with the windows media plug-in instead of downloading it. This is of course ok in some circumstanses, but right now I want to download it. And I can't figure out how...

Any ideas?

Actually, I just figured out in this particular case I could right-click and do Save As. But I still would like to know how to do it if you just had the direct url to a media file. For example when copied from an email or chat client.

Svish

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 27 731

Answers

If I receive a direct link to a media file, I usually use wget for windows to download it.

Ramon Marco Navarro

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 294

but that is a console thing isn't it? think I installed it once, but figured it was too much hassle to use... – Svish – 2009-08-20T18:04:58.673

Yes it's a console program. There are GUIs for wget, a quick google search should return some results. Personally, I don't use any GUI since I could just:

wget -c example.com/example.wmv.

The -c is there so that it resumes downloading the file if a file with the same name is found on the current directory. – Ramon Marco Navarro – 2009-08-21T13:25:21.647

Command line tools aren't a hassle, they're actually simpler and often more deterministic than GUIs. They should be preferred for these tasks. – jcora – 2013-01-04T15:05:58.357

Anything that is linked to can be "saved as" before following the link by right-clicking instead of left-clicking on the link. If it's something you visited in the past, it might be fastest to search for it in your history and then click it. With chrome://history/

dlamblin

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 9 293

2But what if you don't have a link to it? When you just have the url. – Svish – 2009-08-02T20:08:40.133

Well in that case you could put the url into a text file with the html around it <a href="url">right click me</a> and drag the file into a chrome window. – dlamblin – 2009-08-03T22:34:53.987

Just paste it in address bar and hit go. When it loads, hit Ctrl+S

tumchaaditya

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 3 624

I don't want to steal all of @tumchaaditya's thunder, because they are on the right track, just maybe could be more complete in the answer (or Google changed things around, like they do).

As long as the link resolves to a an actual file, then clicking it starts it streaming as a single file in the browser window.
Now use the Save Page As menu item... and it will actually start the file downloading to your Downloads directory.
Then navigate away from the page that is streaming, so you are not chewing up your own downloading bandwidth.

Dex Stakker

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 101

Click on link (where you pick quality) with right mouse and click on "Save as...". :)

UPDATE

You can use some download manager, it's best way.

MicTech

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 9 888

Yeah, just figured that out too, hehe. Updated the question though, cause I would still like to know how to solve it when you only have the direct link. – Svish – 2009-08-02T18:30:12.163

Try choosing the format, right click it and click "save link as..."

EDIT: Ah, the link... Try clicking the page button (left side of the wrench) and do the "save page as" from there.

Artur Carvalho

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 1 617

2Works for the channel 9 site, but what if you just had the url? – Svish – 2009-08-02T20:23:57.570

You could change what it's directing to by pasting the url in the adress bar of the Save as: pop up – Ivo Flipse – 2009-08-03T09:40:51.803

Clicking Save page as didn't seem to work... does it work for you? – Svish – 2009-08-03T17:04:18.460

Yup, I tested it. – Artur Carvalho – 2009-08-03T18:44:29.780

To use the 'SAVE LINK AS' from the right click menu when you have the URL but no link, create a link on http://jsfiddle.net

For example: http://jsfiddle.net/8t3TH/

<a href="http://www.lg.com/us/mobile-phones/g2/font/LGSmartRegular.svg">
   right click me to download</a>

Justin

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 205

-1

You can use chrome extension,

try Any Media Downloader

it will displays a small window over of a player that allows to start download

Char Lee

Posted 2009-08-02T18:25:44.437

Reputation: 19

Please quote the essential parts of the answer from the reference link(s), as the answer can become invalid if the linked page(s) change. – DavidPostill – 2015-06-14T21:03:28.740

Please read How do I recommend software for some tips as to how you should go about recommending software. At the very least you should provide more than just a link, for example some additional information about the software itself, for example how it can be used to solve the problem in the question.

– DavidPostill – 2015-06-14T21:03:52.543