Download Helper Firefox Add-on

I would have never discovered the excellent Download Helper add-on for Firefox if I would not have tried to download a video from a website with Grab++ without success. A quick research revealed that the Download Helper add-on was able to discover the video links for that site in question which would allow me to download the videos from that website.

I began to explore other options and sites using Download Helper and was pleasantly surprised by its effectiveness. Download Helper is able to list direct video downloads from hundreds of video portals currently. All the big portals are included of course but it does offer access to videos from several smaller video portals as well.

Once installed the Download Helper Icon can be moved to a toolbar where the options become accessible. You can do that by right-clicking a toolbar and selecting Customize from the menu. A new window should open with icons that are not in use already. Just located and drag and drop the Download Helper icon to one of your toolbars.

The icon displays links to videos that are found on websites that you visit. The videos have to be played to be recognized by Download Helper. I usually click on the play icon and stop them after they have played for a second. That’s enough for Download Helper to recognize the video link.

Videos can then be saved like normal files by clicking on them. A left-click opens the Save As window and you can save the video to your hard drive.

A left-click on the icon directly opens a new window that lists the supported video portals. All portals are rated and you see a comment count as well. A click on a video portal loads the Download Helper website. If the link has been to an adult video portal (they are not enabled by default) then you have to verify your age. A page with comments and a link to the video portal is then opened.

I like Download Helper because it is easy to use and works on several websites that Grab++ is not working on.

via Firefox Mastery

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Tuesday January 1, 2008 -
Tags:download-videos, firefox-extensions

Responses so far:

1. James says:

   January 1, 2008 at 11:34 pm

   Speaking of download helpers:
   What’s a good way to download image galleries if the thumbnails link to a HTML site with the image (e.g. services like ImageShack) instead of pointing directly to the image file?

   Reply
2. vance says:

   January 2, 2008 at 11:17 am

   I discovered this by looking for ways to download flv files from youtube since most web-based direct downloader site were already blocked by youtube.

   I recommend it too.

   One thing though I don’t think DH will work w/ Firefox 3 beta 2 yet.

   Reply
3. john says:

   April 22, 2008 at 3:48 pm

   Well, it is now (with Firefox 3 Beta 5).

   Reply
4. jim says:

   November 15, 2008 at 6:37 pm

   super

   Reply
5. fresher says:

   November 18, 2008 at 1:52 am

   its not working with firefox 3,4 :/

   Reply
6. joe says:

   November 23, 2008 at 10:18 am

   this is not working for me with firefox 3.0.4
   is it working for anyone else on this?

   Reply
7. Martin says:

   November 23, 2008 at 11:29 am

   Joe yes it is working fine here.

   Reply
8. Heera says:

   December 30, 2009 at 9:51 am

   Sorry Bro it doesn’t work on vevo.com

   Reply
9. zhu says:

   January 26, 2011 at 12:12 pm

   I have no downloadhelper icon present in the Toolbar>Customise menu, so nothing to drag to the toolbar.

   Have been using this addon successfully for years, so I’m upset by this impasse. Any suggestions? Tried uninstalling/reinstalling via Firefox addons and the same situation.

   Using FF 3.6.13

   Reply
   • Martin says:

     January 26, 2011 at 12:20 pm

     Look in the options of the add-on, you find placement options under General > Appearance. You can place it in the status bar and then move it to another toolbar.

     Reply
     • zhu says:

       January 26, 2011 at 12:43 pm

       Can’t thank you enough for the fast reply Martin, its much appreciated.

       I did indeed check out the options, under General>Appearance the ‘Show in status bar’ option is already ticked (as are all the others in that box). However that does not change the status of the Toolbar>Customise options; only the basic browser toolbar icons appear there, no 3rd-party addon icons.

       Thanks for your help anyway, I think this may be unfixable though :(

       I really wanted to avoid using something a bit less user-friendly (ie flashgot) but that may be the only option now.
     • Martin says:

       January 26, 2011 at 1:49 pm

       Zhu, you need to drag and drop the icon from the status bar to another location, not from the Customize window.
10. zhu says:

    January 26, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Hmm I see what you mean. But I’m afraid there is nothing on the status bar!

    So even though “show in status bar” is ticked in the Addon options, it doesn’t appear anywhere.

    Reply
11. guy says:

    September 5, 2011 at 3:23 am

    I’m only getting a couple beginning seconds of the videos

    Reply