I love comedy, so I am constantly on the internet looking for any comedy videos I can watch to cheer me up. Some videos are so funny I am compelled to share them with my friends, meaning I would need to download them.
On Mozilla Firefox, downloading videos from sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo, among others, has been made easy thanks to a ton of add-ons. These add-ons or extensions will automatically integrate into online streaming sites and help download the videos in various file formats.
You can even download the audio tracks and mobile ringtones from online videos using these Firefox add-ons in different formats.
In this article, I will walk you through how to use select add-ons that I have used and recommend downloading online videos. Let’s dive right in.
Install the Video Downloader Add-on
Now, before downloading any videos, you will need to download the add-on first.
The add-on is a piece of software that helps enhance the Firefox browser’s capability. If you’ve ever heard about the Google Chrome extensions, it’s the same thing but in Firefox terminology.
Thankfully, many add-ons are available on the Mozilla Firefox add-ons site. Here’s how to download and install one:
- Launch the Firefox app on your computer.
- Click on More
for menu options located on the right-hand side. - Choose the Add-ons option from the list. This will open the Firefox Add-ons Manager window.
You can also open using the keyboard shortcut: + + in Windows or Linux and + + on Mac.
- Now within the Add-ons Manager search bar, look up video downloader in the Find more add-ons field.
- This will open the search results in a new tab.
- Select the video downloader of your choice.
I recommend you look at each add-on’s ratings before you download it.
- Click and open the add-ons details page.
- Click on button, and the Software Installation window will appear after the add-on has been downloaded.
- Click the button, and your extension will be installed.
The newly installed add-on will appear Add-ons Manager window under the Extensions tab. You will be able to manage the extensions like enable or disable as well as removing from Firefox.
Download videos using Firefox Add-on
Now that we have installed the required extension or add-on in the Firefox browser, the next thing will be downloading the videos from streaming sites.
Thankfully, we do not need to register on any site before downloading the online videos. And, of course, these add-ons are entirely free.
Download Videos using Firefox Add-ons
If you are downloading YouTube videos, I recommend you use the Easy YouTube Video downloader I linked below.
Once is add-on is installed, follow these steps to download youtube videos using the add-on in Firefox:
- Go to YouTube and play the video you would like to download.
- Below the video – near the subscribe to this channel button, you will see a green button.
- Click on it, and a drop-down menu will appear.
- Select the File format you would like to download, and a download dialogue box will appear.
- Select the destination folder in the file explorer to download the file.
- Click the button to begin the downloading.
- Your download will start, and you can find it in your specified download destination once completed.
You can choose the file format to download the video from YouTube. You can also export the music videos in audio formats like mp3. You can even have the quality choice of video to be saved on your computer.
Here is a direct link to the Firefox add-on for downloading the YouTube videos. Make sure to open the Firefox browser on the computer for easy download.
Firefox Add-on: Download Online Videos
I recommend using the Video download helper add-on if you want to download a video from sites other than YouTube, say Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch. I’ve added the direct download link to the add-on below.
While the steps for downloading the other online videos are the same as the YouTube above video downloading, you will need to install a video download companion app as it is needed for video downloads from selected sites.
Make sure the Video DownloadHelper Firefox add-on is already installed and proceed to the below steps:
- Go to the site (for example, Facebook Video) that contains the video you want to download.
- Play the video on the website.
- Once the video is playing, click the Video DownloadHelper icon next to the Firefox URL address bar.
- A pop-up will appear with the different formats you can download the video.
- If the video needs the download companion app installed, you will be prompted to install it.
- Click on the download icon, and the download will start.
- When done, the downloaded video file will be saved in a folder in your C:\ partition on the computer within the DWHelper.
And just like that, your video has been downloaded, and you can go ahead and share it with your friends.
Here is the direct download link for the Video DownloadHelper Firefox add-on to download videos from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, and other streaming sites.
Note that the video companion software is optional and should be installed only if required for the specific site when prompted — this is a one-time process.
Bottom Line
Mozilla Firefox has made it simple and easy for everyone to download online videos without any issues. Perhaps, Google Chrome is quite stringent and does not allow such video downloader extensions in its web store library.
You could download them instead in a quest to save data that could be used for constantly streaming these videos. You must also ensure you have enough storage space on your computer, or you will encounter problems.
I advise that you download only the videos you are sure you will need. Otherwise, you will have lots of videos seated on your computer, occupying space.
What kind of videos interest you? Are they movie trailers, tutorials, or music videos? Follow the steps above to download these videos and watch them offline any day.
Lastly, if you've any thoughts or feedback on How to Download Online Videos using Firefox Add-ons, then feel free to drop in below comment box. You can also report the outdated information.
