4chan Downloader is on first glance just another tool for the job. The program takes a single url that points to a 4Chan thread, scans it for images and downloads them automatically to the selected location on the local hard drive.

But there is more to the software. The software can for instance be configured to automatically rescan the 4Chan.org thread to find and download new images that have been posted since the time of the last download.

Many images are shown as thumbnails in the program interface. Many? Yes, not every image is shown there. I’m not sure if this is a bug or a limitation. The screenshots on the project page paint a different picture. It is not a huge problem but makes the software look inconsistent. All images, regardless if a thumbnail is shown or not, are downloaded to the local hard drive. They can be opened from within the program interface, or from the local directory they have been downloaded to.

Another interesting option is to create a new download tab to download pictures and images from a different 4chan thread as well.

A user could theoretically create download tasks for an unlimited amount of 4chan urls. On top of that, all could be monitored by the application for new images.

What’s missing? The developer needs to work on the thumbnail display. Either display all images as thumbnails or none, the current solution is not satisfactory. An option to add multiple threads at once, or a whole board, would be welcome as well to automate the downloading further.

4chan Downloader is a portable Open Source software for Microsoft Windows PCs and Linux. Downloads are offered at the Sourceforge project website.

4Chan Plus is a Google Chrome extension that adds many features to 4chan that improve the website’s usability. All features of the regularly updated extension are optional which means that users can make use of them but do not have to.

Lets take a closer look at the features:

• Hoverable images – Grab the full image and display it on mouse over directly on the same page without loading another one. Option to preload images on request or always. Option to replace thumbnails with the large versions automatically.
• Expandable images – Open images in a new tab on double-click. Option to define the size of that image (original, fit screen, custom size)
• Post Preview – Displays referenced posts on mouse over.
• Show the number of unread posts in the titlebar
• Restore postnumbers in /b/
• Autofetch new posts – Set to every 3 seconds by default, can be changed to every second or every 10 seconds. Autoscroll when new posts appear, scroll quick-reply box with auto-scrolling.
• Quickreply – Activate on board pages and within threads, remove original box.
• Bookmarks – Add thread bookmarks to access them at a later time again.
• Smartbar – Displays information and options at the bottom of the screen, for instance to preload or expand images, see the number of repllies, favorite it or reply.
• Quickreport – Add a button to quickly report a thread to moderators.
• Content features – Play Youtube videos directly on 4chan, make links clickable and restore original filenames of images.
• Sounds – Add sounds for specific events.

The Chrome extension makes life on 4chan a lot easier, especially for regulars. The developers have plans to add the following features in upcoming updates:

[NEXT UPDATE]
- retract expanded threads
- backlinking
- improved postpreview
- screenshots!

[FUTURE UPDATES]
- (auto)saving images to disk*
- support for other sites (confirmed!)
- styling options / themes
- sage highlighting
- auto-noko + switch
- ‘comment too long’-expansion
- filter

Chrome users can install the 4Chan Plus extension directly from the official Google Chrome extensions gallery.

The new Firefox add-on Img2Tab offers a third possibility. It adds capabilities to the web browser to open all images on the active page in a new Firefox window. Each image is loaded in its own tab, making it an ideal add-on for users who visit websites regularly where multiple pictures or photos are posted per page.

Ideal candidates mentioned by the developer are forums like 4chan, or sites like Reddit.

The add-on adds two different options to the right-click context menu in Firefox. It is possible to open all actual images or linked images. The difference should be clear. Actual images are the images that are shown on the page. Linked images on the other hand will open linked image versions instead if available. It is often the case that thumbnails are displayed and larger versions of the images linked to from those thumbnails. Selecting actual images would load the thumbnails in tabs of the new window, selecting linked images on the other hand would open the larger image versions in tabs in the new window.

Img2Tab is not only available for Firefox but also for the Google Chrome browser. The Chrome version is linked on the Firefox add-on page. The extension may be handy for users who spend time on pages with multiple images that they want to view. Since the images are opened in tabs they are also stored in the Internet cache automatically.

The free portable software Mediaspider has been designed as a bulk image downloader for those three locations on the Internet.

The program window separates the three sites into three tabs, so that users can configure the search and download parameters separately for each of them.

These parameters differ slightly. Only a channel can be selected for 4Chan. The other two sites offer more parameters. This includes a search string, number of returned results, size options and option to skip the first x images. DeviantArt searches seem to require a registered account while the other two do not.

Media Spider displays all images that it downloads in a preview window on the screen. This preview window has the same size as the images that are downloaded, but stays in the background all the time to avoid conflicts with other open windows the user is working with. Be aware that the downloader will download all images of a 4chan forum to the local system.

The program lacks a few options, like an image size limit, proxy settings or a download limit for 4chan. The program downloads hundreds of images from 4chan without interruption, as there are currently no options to limit downloads from the location.

Still, MediaSpider does a good job at downloading images in bulk from Google, Deviantart and 4chan. Great for users who download lots of images from at least one of the supported websites, and hoarders.

The name of the application is confusing. In the software is is MediaSpider, on the developer homepage it is MediaArachnid. The portable Open Source application is compatible with most 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. (via TechnixUpdate)

The 30-or-so boards cater to a specific audience, and is largely concentrating on Japanese culture, adult contents, creative categories and interests. The 558 million posts speak for themselves.

Many threads offer a wealth of images that are posted by 4Chan users, and while it is perfectly possible to download them one-by-one in the web browser, it usually makes more sense to automate the process as much as possible.

The free software 4Chan Thread downloader is an application for the Microsoft Windows operating system. It can be used to add threads from 4Chan, which are then automatically downloaded to the local computer system.

New download jobs can be started from the Add 4Chan thread button in the application interface. The program automatically fills out the 4Chan url with the clipboard contents to simplify the process. Downloads begin automatically once the url has been added and a download directory selected.

Download jobs are displayed in a queue on the left side, while preview images of the downloaded images are shown on the right.

4chan thread downloader

One interesting aspect of the program is that it will continue to check the threads for new images after the initial download, for as long as the threads remain in the download queue, and the program is running.

That’s a good option to never miss a single picture posted to favorite threads.

The 4Chan Thread Downloader is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. It requires not installation and can be run from the directory it was saved to. The portable program can be downloaded from the developer website.

This is the main difference to 4Chan Grabber which we reviewed earlier this year which allowed users to download all photos and images of a selected 4Chan forum to the computer system. The 4Chan Downloader is therefor for users who do not want to download all photos or images from a forum but only selected ones from threads that they specify.

The downloader is ready for use after a quick installation. It consists of five interactive interface elements. The two forms can be used to paste the url of the 4Chan thread and to specify the download location on the local computer. The other three are buttons that can start the download, perform a check or open the folder containing the images.

The program will automatically create a folder based on the thread number at 4Chan to avoid ending up with a massive amount of unsorted photos and pictures if multiple threads are downloaded. 4Chan Downloader should be compatible with most versions of the Windows operating system. It can be downloaded at the developer’s website.

Update: 4Chan Thread Downloader has been renamed to 4chan Watcher. Check out the new 4chan Downloader review here.

That’s probably the main reason why Chris Motch created the 4Chan Grabber, a graphical user interface that mimics the functionality of the command line program. 4chan Grabber is a software program for the Windows operating system that requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 to work.

The program comes with a list of all 4chan boards. All that needs to be done to download all pictures from one of the boards is to select the board from the list and to click on the Grab Images button. The program will respond by starting to parse the available pages containing the images. This can take quite some time and the downloads start right after the parsing has been finished.

The 4chan images will be downloaded to a directory specified by the user after clicking on the Grab Images button in the application. 4Chan Grabber can be downloaded directly from the developer’s homepage.

Update: 4Chan Grabber appears to have been discontinued. You can try alternatives such as the 4chan Downloader, which is also a freeware downloader for images posted on 4Chan.

The 4chan.org Dumper is a simple command line utility that can be used to download an entire forum or part of a forum with one command. A forum at 4chan usually consists of 15 (or so) pages with posts by users.

The basic command to download images from a page at 4chan is [dump4chan.exe [url]]. There are a handful of optional parameters that can be added including the ability to select a specific output folder, to dump the whole board, the replies and to hide the command line on the screen.

The command 4chan.exe http://zip.4chan.org/v/imgboard.html videogames -all would for example download all images from the video games forum at 4chan and save them in the videogames subfolder. Duplicate images will be skipped automatically. Users who want to download pictures regularly might want to think about creating a batch script for the process to be able to do so more comfortable. 4Chan Dumper is a free software that requires the Microsoft .net Framework.

A click on any board will load a huge page that contains hundreds of images and comments about those images from users from all over the world. 4Chan has sparked lots of controversy in the past due to its anything goes attitude. The site rules state that only adults are allowed to view the site’s contents and that it is illegal to post post content that is illegal in the United States.

4Chan Cleaner is a userscript that removes some of the elements on the 4Chan website. This includes advertisement but also a better layout of all the posts and images on each 4chan forum.

4Chan Inline Image Expander is a second userscript that makes it easier to expand images on the main forum page. A simple click on the image will load its full size directly in the forum without loading a new page. A second click on the same image will display the image thumbnail again.

Both userscripts require the Firefox web browser and the Firefox add-on Greasemonkey or a compatible web browser that can load userscripts as well.