Skip the DownloadHelper Companion-App Dance
If you have used Firefox for a while, you know Video DownloadHelper. It is the extension everyone reaches for, and for years it just worked. Then it started asking you to install a separate “companion app” on your computer to handle most modern formats, because the browser sandbox will not let the extension convert HLS streams on its own. So now the “just add the extension” route means adding an extension and a desktop helper and keeping both updated.
Paste the video link into this page instead and you skip all of that. The MP4 downloads in Firefox with nothing installed, no add-on, no companion app.
- Works in Firefox on desktop and Android
- No extension and no companion app to install alongside it
- Rebuilds streamed HLS video into one MP4, audio included
- Takes YouTube, Vimeo, and direct links, plus a batch at once
- Public web video the site will serve, not DRM-protected streaming
Firefox lets you right-click and “Save Video As” too, and for a plain progressive MP4 that still works. The trouble is that most video is not a plain MP4 anymore. Same tool framed for Chrome on the Chrome video downloader.
Why Right-Click Save Works on Some Firefox Videos and Not Others
It comes down to how the video is served. An older or smaller site hands Firefox a single progressive MP4, and right-click “Save Video As” saves it fine. That is the case that still works, and if it works for you, use it.
Most sites now stream instead. They serve video as HLS, an .m3u8 playlist split into hundreds of chunks, and the <video> tag points at a temporary blob: address that only lives in that tab. There is no file to save, so Save As either greys out or hands you a useless stub. This is exactly the case DownloadHelper needs its companion app for, and exactly what ScreenApp does on its servers when you paste the link: read the playlist, pull the chunks, stitch one MP4.
Firefox’s strict tracking protection can also block the network calls some on-page downloaders rely on. Pasting the link into a tool that fetches server-side sidesteps that too. DRM-protected streaming stays off-limits, in Firefox or anywhere, because it is encrypted.
Paste, Save, Done
- In Firefox, copy the video or page URL from the address bar.
- Paste it into the field on this page.
- Download. The MP4 lands in your Firefox Downloads.
On Firefox for Android the flow is the same. Copy the link, paste, save. No add-on, which matters on mobile where DownloadHelper’s companion-app model does not really work anyway.
Do More Than Save It
The download is step one. The same import can hand the video to AI, which is where a saved talk or tutorial stops being just a file. Get a transcript and a written summary with the AI video summarizer, ask the video questions with timestamped answers using the AI video watcher, run scene and content detection with the video analyzer, or turn it into a formatted write-up with video to document. The import runs on ScreenApp’s servers, not on this page. Importing and the transcript are free; the free plan covers 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each, and downloading the MP4 needs a paid plan, from $19/month billed annually on Pro.
Who Downloads Video in Firefox
Long-time Firefox users who ran DownloadHelper for years and got tired of the companion-app prompt, the update nags, and the occasional watermark on the free tier. They want the file, not a toolchain.
Privacy-minded users who chose Firefox for its tracking protection and would rather not hand a downloader extension permission to read every site they visit. And Firefox mobile users, where extensions are limited and the companion-app model does not apply, so a web tool is the clean path to an actual file.
Privacy and Copyright
Download only web video you have the right to keep: your own content, public video you are authorized to use, or material in the public domain. Saving copyrighted video without permission can infringe the owner’s rights and breach the source site’s terms, and that responsibility is yours. DRM-protected streaming (Netflix, Disney+, paid subscription video) is off-limits in Firefox or any browser, because it is encrypted for exactly that reason.
On privacy, the import runs on ScreenApp’s servers: the link is sent to your ScreenApp account, the video is fetched there, and you download it from your library. So the video does pass through your ScreenApp account, and it, along with any transcript or summary you generate from it, is covered by ScreenApp’s privacy policy.
