Browse your video library, share favorite moments, and create beautiful movies that you can edit at resolutions up to 4K. You can even start editing movies on an iPhone or iPad, and finish them on a Mac. Browse and share video. See all your video clips and photos organized in one place. Quickly share a clip or a portion of a clip. 'The Warner Bros. Movies and TV shows will likely be just the beginning of Plex’s ad-supported content, as the company plans on working with additional media partners to expand its catalog. So while the main draw of the app will still be the ability to stream a personal media library, it may eventually become a centralized app for on-demand.
It appears that an increasing number of users would like to download video clips and movies from YouTube, Google Video, Veoh, Break, or DailyMotion, etc. and convert them to portable devices such as iPhone, iPad, etc., so that you can enjoy the videos anytime anywhere.
There are tons of free video downloaders for Mac and Windows PC. Some are for desktop while others are web apps. No matter which one you pick, each has its pros and cons. Here I would introduce the top 10 best free video downloader for Mac or PC to you. All of them are able to help you grab videos to your computer with the URLs.
Best Video Downloader for Mac
Dec 07, 2020 If you’re like me, you like free stuff. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to watch free movies and TV on your Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Mac out there, waiting in apps. Most of the free movie apps or free TV apps allow you to enjoy free movie streaming on your Apple TV, and some have free movie apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac as well. You won’t get the latest. Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Movie Maker. Download Movie Maker for macOS 10.10 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. Movie Maker puts everything you need to tell your story in a movie, with a streamlined interface and intuitive workflow that let you enjoy your photos/videos like never before. If you’re like me, you like free stuff. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to watch free movies and TV on your Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Mac out there, waiting in apps. Most of the free movie apps or free TV apps allow you to enjoy free movie streaming on your Apple TV, and some have free movie apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac as well. You won’t get the latest.
Cisdem Video Converter (All-in-one Solution)
- Download clips from more than 1000 popular sites
- Cope with 720p, 1080p, 4k and 8k videos
- Ensure video conversion between over 500 formats without losing quality
- Support batch processing multiple videos
- Built-in media editor allows to trim, combine, crop, add subtitles or effects, etc.
- Rip personal & commercial DVD to digital formats
- Supported OS: OS X 10.10 or later
Reviews on Best Free Video Downloader for Mac/PC
1. iFunia YouTube Downloader (Mac)
iFunia YouTube Downloader is a free video downloader for Mac that helps you download online 1080p FHD, 4k UHD videos to Mac in batch. It's not just for video downloads from YouTube but from Dailymotion, Vimeo, Blip TV, Liveleak, Lynda, Break, Vube, Ustream, Ted, and other websites.
Copy the video URL and it will be auto pasted into the URL field. Or you can drag-n-drop all of the videos' thumbnails into the program, and start to download favorite videos for several minutes.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use, intuitive
- Support to download YouTube playlist
2. VDownloader (Windows, macOS)
VDownloader is an intuitive app that focuses on video downloading. It’s fully compatible with major video hosting sites, like Dailymotion, Break, Twitch, Vimeo, and more.
However, you are only allowed to bulk download unlimited videos 10 times and convert local videos 3 times. If you like this best free video downloader, you can fetch their commercial version at the price of $17.99/yearly or $59/lifetime.
Pros:
- Integrated with a search feature to add video content to your follow tab
- Convert video to custom format
Cons:
- The speed of installation is pretty slow
- Not work well on Mac computer and merely available on macOS Mojave or later
3. QDownloader.io (web tool)
QDownloader.io is a free online video downloader & converter with the ability to grab videos from a handful of video hosting sites, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
It can directly convert video from websites to MP4 and MP3 on Mac or PC. There are browser extension versions on Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Chrome, assisting you in downloading.
Pros:
- User-friendly
- Quickly catch video by adding io before 'youtube.com'
Cons:
- Save up to 720p video, even it's a 1080p or 4k video
- Download up to 128kbps audio only
4. Keepv.id (web tool)
KeepVid is one of the best free video downloader for Mac/PC that allows you to download all types of videos online from YouTube, Facebook, Twitch.Tv, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and many more. The downloaded videos will be saved in MP4, MP3, M4A, or WebM format.
Without superfluous interfaces, novices can get started via copying & pasting the URL in the textbox.
Pros:
- Preserve video metadata like name, song title, album, etc. in MP3
- Keep subtitles in various languages
Cons:
- Only 100 videos in the YouTube playlist can be detected at most
- Can't download the playlist all at once and no batch download
- The output definition is limited no exceed 1280p
5. aTube Catcher (Windows)
aTube Catcher is a desktop free video downloader for PC system which can perform lots of video tasks. It lets you download videos from social websites, and export them to PC or some portable devices, like iPad, iPod, PSP, MP4 player, and DVD.
It offers donations access for users to help them in the budget and maintain the best free video downloader app updated and running.
Pros:
- A host of video formats are supported
- Record screen, create DVDs/CDs
Best Mac Video Downloader
- No risk of ads, buffering, virus attack to your Mac.
- Support the download from all popular sites, like YouTube, Tumblr, DailyMotion, Blip, Veoh, AOL, Vimeo, etc.
- Batch download
- Preview the downloaded videos
- Snapshot and save your favorite screen picture.
- Convert and transfer videos to any kind of digital device including iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone, PSP, etc.
6. Freemake (Windows, macOS)
Freemake is a popular video downloader for free works on Mac and Windows. It supports downloading videos, playlists, channels in HD, MP4, MP3, AVI, 3GP, FLV, etc. Lots of sites are supported, like Youtube, Facebook, Vevo, Hulu, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Vkontakte.
The software has a self-explanatory UI. Any new users can easily know how to use it.
Cons (limits of the free version):
- Download up to 50 videos
- Each video can’t longer than 3 minutes
- Unable to convert video to MP3
- Add Freemake logo to your video
- Fail to fetch 4k videos
7. ClipGrab (Windows, Mac)
ClipGrab is an acclaimed best free video downloader working on Windows. It supports downloading videos, playlists, channels in MP4, MP3, AVI, 3GP, FLV, etc. with quality retained.
Plus, it supports certain media sites, like Youtube, Facebook, Vevo, Hulu, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Vkontakte.
Note: It expects you to donate 10, 20, 30 euros for further development.
Pros:
- Automatically catch URL from clipboard
- Support a built-in search option
8. GetTube (Mac)
In old days, GetTube is a lightweight Mac OS X app that enables you to download videos and playback the media any time you like, directly from your computer. Get Tube works well with Safari and Firefox. Once you install it, you'll see a new button in the browser while you surf on YouTube. Click it and you'll be able to download the featured video in a matter of seconds.
With compatibility with macOS 10.12 or above, GetTube starts to charge, and you need to pay 5 euros to unlock the download function.
Pros:
- Download videos in high quality
- Search videos within the software
Cons:
- Inconvenient UI
- Only save video as MP4 and MP3 format
9. 4K Video Downloader (Windows, Mac)
4K Video Downloader is a reliable freeware that downloads videos, playlists, channels, and subtitles from YouTube, Vimeo, etc. This best free video downloader for Mac/PC lets you manually set the output formats as MP4, FLV, MKV, MP3, OGG, M4A.
You just copy the URLs of the target movies and, click the button “Paste Links”. But if you want to download more than 25 YouTube playlist videos or download the channel, you have to buy the serial number and get the perpetual permissions.
Pros:
- Support to download 4k & 360-degree videos
- Download the whole playlists
10. MacTubes (Mac)
Free Movie App On Mac
Update: 1. The developer stopped releasing the app; 2. Not work anymore since Google changed YouTube API.
MacTubes is a handy free video downloader for Mac that you don’t have to visit the site itself. It allows you to create playlists based on what you've downloaded or what you've searched on. And it will list the downloaded and played files for you to create playlists.
Pros:
- Work without having to open the YouTube website
Cons:
- Offer no compatibility with other major video sites
- Only save videos in one format
Bonus: Best Video Downloader Mac for Paid
Free Movie App Macbook
Cisdem Video Converter is a one-stop and professional toolbox for Mac users to download & convert & edit videos, rip DVDs, etc. It should be the best video downloader for Mac to help you grab TV episodes, movies, music videos, news, sports, and other online video clips with the fastest speed.
Once you launch the free trial version, it would pop up a small box. Click “Evaluate”, and download the online video for free. If you buy its pro version, you would get the registration code to enjoy video conversion, video downloading, DVD ripping, and sharing functions within one.
Quick Steps to Download Video from Website Mac Using Cisdem Video Converter:
Download Cisdem Video Converter to your Mac first, then run it and click the download section at the top.
Go to the video streaming sites that the software supports. Find the video you desire to download and copy its URL.
Return to the best video downloader for Mac, and paste the URL to the download bar.
Click on the “down arrow” icon to start the video download. You can add multiple URLs to the download list.
It provides you with a free trial version for taking a test. But the free version of this best video downloader Mac merely converts 5 minutes per file and merely downloads 3 videos. Come to download its commercial version which priced at $49.99. You can enjoy YouTube videos on any portable devices.
Conclusion
After being familiar with a vast assortment of options for the best free video downloaders for Mac/ PC as well as the paid one, we can easily distinguish their benefits and drawbacks. With our overview, you should have a clearer picture of which best video downloader suits most of your needs.
There are a plethora of Mac video players on the app market. From my perspective, the best video player for Mac should support a vast assortment of formats, crisp visual display, and user-friendly operating features. In this huge and intensely competitive market, we can't figure out which free Mac video player is the best choice at once. If you have the same doubts, then you come to the right place. In this article, I'd like to show you the best media player for Mac that can give you excellent visual enjoyment.
4 Tips on Choosing the Best Media Player for Mac
The best video player for Mac is supposed to:
- Be free of ads, viruses, malware, and spyware.
- Born with a slick and directive interface, making the app simple to navigate.
- Come with strong coding skills and support wide-ranging video & audio format, so you can play any media file including 4K/5K video without losing quality.
- Have compact and basic video playback functions, like play/pause, time display, volume control, etc.
Well, I’ve listed and tested a bunch of Mac video players and screened out the top 10 best free video player for Mac with the above reference in mind.
Top 10 Best Video Player for Mac 2021
Video player software isn’t rare, but top free video player for Mac users is not easy to come by. Hence we picked out the 10 best video players for Mac and give you some detailed information below.
#1. Cisdem Video Player for Mac
Compatibility: macOS 10.10 or later
Cisdem Video Player is an incredible program playing a vast assortment of media file formats. It’s fully compatible with all popular video formats (e.g. WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, M4V, FLV, MKV, RMVB, MPEG, etc.), as well as audio files (e.g. MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, M4A, etc.). The software supports all those codecs ensuring the playback of high-quality video files a breeze.
This best video player Mac takes care of your local media files and the music/videos downloaded from YouTube, Vimeo, or others. You can automatically or manually add subtitles in .ass and .srt formats. It offers smoother playback while other media players show a video jitter, choppy, or stalling.
Cisdem best Mac video player contains a built-in video converter, allowing you to media files to MP4, M4V, MOV, MP3, M4A, iPhone, iPad, Samsung, and so on. It's totally free to play video & audio files but to unlock the conversion function, you need to upgrade to the pro version.
Pros:
- Equipped with a concise and decent interface
- Play video/audio files in more than 100 formats
- Play 1080P, 4K, 5K, and even 8K videos
- Load subtitles in any language, or import subtitles, as you want
- Choose the audio soundtracks and stereo
- Capture snapshots of each frame
- Turn volume up or down
- Take less occupancy on CPU memory of your Mac
FAQ: What're the differences between Cisdem Video Player and Cisdem Video Converter?
Cisdem Video Player | Cisdem Video Converter | |
---|---|---|
Download | Free download | Download the free trial |
Price | Free ($9.99 to active conversion feature) | $49.99 |
Video Play | Dedicated video player (rich playback controls) | Inbuilt-in video player (non-primary function) |
Video Convert | Support 40+ output formats | Support 300+ formats |
Batch Convert | No | Yes |
Extra | / | Rip DVD movies and music Download online videos from 1000+ sites |
Both programs support playing and converting features. But as their names indicate, the former is mainly used to play videos, while the latter is a professional video converter & downloader.
#2. VLC Media Player for Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7.5 or newer
VLC Media Player, an uncluttered, open-source and cross-platform program, supports DivX and MPEG streaming. It can play DVDs, CDs, VCDs, network streaming protocols, and various types of video files. The best video player Mac offers playlist for viewing multiple videos one after the other.
Meanwhile, VLC empowers you to open Zip media files without unpacking them. And you can simply tweak the playback controls and audio volume (up to 200%). But it’s a little delayed while playing, 'Each time I click on run video network it plays other audio and DVDs, etc. and after a million times it finally plays the YouTube video.'
Pros:
- Help you enjoy Windows Media, MP3, QuickTime, and OGG files.
- Record the movies/music you are playing with VLC
- Adjust playback speed (slower, normal, and faster)
- Support external subtitles and Closed Captions
Cons:
- Outdated user interface
- Delay a little while playing the media files
#3. MPlayerX for Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7 or above
MPlayerX is one of the fastest choices to play MPEG (damaged MPEG files included), MP4, AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, WAV, OGG/OGM, CD audio, etc. Plus, this best media player for Mac supports multi-touch, gesture, auto-encode subtitles, and online YouTube/Vimeo playback. But don't confuse MPlayerX and MPlayer OSX Extended. They are two completely different programs.
Pros:
- Stand-alone video player for Mac
- Support various output formats and devices
- Auto convert subtitles for media files
Cons:
- Injects pop-up ads or advertising banners which may bring a virus
- Take up too much CPU
- Encounter problem when open the software and ask you to eject the disk image
#4. QuickTime Player for Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or above
QuickTime Player, bundled with the Mac operating system, is Apple's flagship software. It ensures you to view Internet video, HD movie trailers, and personal media. This best media player for Mac is slick and easy to use. You can quickly export your videos to 4k, 1080p, 720p, 480p (based on original resolution) or extract them as M4A audio. It also functions as a screen recorder. You can record your playing movie, track, or anything on your current desktop.
However, it supports limited video formats. For more formats available like FLV, you have to install external plug-in Perian.
Pros:
- No additional installation required
- Provide you with advanced H.264 video compression technology to help deliver perfect HD video with less storage space.
- Record your Mac screen
Cons:
- A bit slow to launch
- Can’t work with common subtitle files
- Can’t open MKV, WMV, WMA, AVI, FLV, etc.
#5. Elmedia Player for Mac
Compatibility: OS X 10.9.0 or later
A multifunctional free media player for Mac, Elmedia Player supports a wide range of common and not so common audio & video formats, including FLV, SWF, WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, MP3, DAT, FLAC, M4V, MPG, MKV, and more. It can play virtually all media files on your Mac. Although it has some other special features, such as downloading online videos from YouTube and adjusting audio settings, they are not free and need to be upgraded.
Pros:
- Play online videos without ads
- Support embedded and external subtitles
- Save and load playlist
- Reset audio delay
Cons:
- Consume major CPU
- Might lose video quality when swiping back and forth
- Only pro version allows to take screenshots
#6. 5KPlayer for Mac
Compatibility: OS X 10.8.0 or higher
5KPlayer is a mixture of free AirPlay media streamer, online video downloader, music player and movie player for Mac. All HD, 4K, 5K videos including MKV, MTS, AVCHD are supported. With AirPlay streaming tech, you can as AirPlay sender/receiver: stream video music from iPhone, iPad to PC or from PC to Apple TV. Although the best Mac video player lets you download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc., the download process will be bit slower.
Pros:
- Embedded copious codecs for playing different audio, video, and DVD.
- No need to install additional codec or pack.
- Import subtitle and switch soundtrack
- Manage YouTube downloaded videos, DLNA server, and playlist in library
Cons:
- Install Bonjour voluntarily without any hint when you need to make AirPlay work
- The media player will get stuck when playing high resolution & long videos
#7. Realplayer for Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.9 or later
Realplayer can play all formats of videos. This best video player Mac is a universal media player that automatically recognizes the file format of the video or audio file you want to play. So you can count on it to reliably play the most popular audio and video file formats including AVI, MP4, MP3, WMA, WAV, FLV, MPEG, and more. It requires a fairly powerful machine for some functions. Several applications need to be installed in advance to launch the application properly.
Pros:
- Offer several visualization ways for listening and locates your media files automatically.
- Include handy downloading and conversion features that may benefit some users.
#8. DivX Player for Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.5.0 or above
DivX Player delivers high-quality video playback for AVI, DIVX, MKV, MP4, and more. It is the best video player Mac to watch DivX, MKV, and HEVC up to 4K films. You can use its built-in TransferWizard to burn videos to DVD/USB/computer. It also comes with DivX Codec Pack and a free 15-day trial of DivX Plus Converter for those who plan to convert.
Pros:
- Support playing HD 720P/1080P, UHD 4K video movies
- Open video directly with URL
- Import video files into library
Cons:
- Large installation file and install other software without permission
- Poor compatibility with the latest system
- Lack some key features, e.g. rewind and forward
#9. Movist Video Player for Mac
Compatibility: OS X 10.10.0 or late
Movist, based on QuickTime and FFmpeg, is another best media player for Mac. It has the ability to encode/decode a multitude of formats and add subtitles. You can do some general and advanced settings for better and convenient video playback. However, the new versions like 2.4.2, 2.4.3 are not free now, which charge $4.99 or $7.99 (Movist Pro). To get Movist free video player for Mac, you should install the old version like 0.6.8 or before.
Pros:
- Simple to operate
- Support playlist
- Many customizable options
#10. NicePlayer for Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.5 or above
NicePlayer is the best Video Player for Mac with a multi-engine player designed for playing movies nicely. This program features full-screen or borderless floating windows, useful controls for scrubbing or queuing movies, and on-the-fly playlist creation.
Pros:
- Lightweight and compatible with most formats
- Can adjust the aspect ratio
- Make a suitable presentation with the aid of toolbar (Half Size, Double Size, Fill Screen, Fill Width, etc.)
Cons:
- Can’t handle AVI, MKV or MPG videos.
- No support for subtitles and changing audio sources, etc.
- Unable to play the videos by dragging it to the software
- Not convenient to switch to another video
What is Media Player (Software)?
We often need the best media player for Mac, but before installing new software it is good to get some knowledge about it.
According to the explanation from Wikipedia, a media player (software) is a handy program that can help you play videos, music, movies, and other multimedia files on the computer. All media players display standard media control icons: play, pause, fast-forward, back forward, and stop buttons.
How to Use the Best Video Player for Mac?
All video players mentioned above are easy to use. Let's take Cisdem Video Player as an example:
Step 1. Download and install the best free video player for Mac, then launch it.
Step 2. Drag and drop the video file you wish to watch to the interface of the software.
Step 3. Click button to start video play on Mac.
How to Change the Default Video Player on Mac?
QuickTime Player is the default Mac media player. You can change it into the best video player for Mac you think.
Step 1. Locate the media file you wish to play.
Step 2. Right-click on it, a drop-down menu will appear.
Step 3. Choose “Open With” > “Other”, which brings up a dialog for selecting the application to open your media file.
Step 4. Choose your best media player Mac, check the box- “Always Open With”, and click on “Open”.
Conclusion
I deem that you already have the best media player for Mac in your mind, just download it on Mac and have a try if it is right the thing as you expected. Here I advise those who still feel a little confused to choose from, I push Cisdem Video Player for Mac in front of you. it gets more and more reputation and becomes a stable status among the market. 4K video, 5K/1080p HD videos, all of popular SD & HD standard video formats which other free video player tools unable to support, or add subtitle files, Cisdem Video Player for Mac can all fix it. What’s the best I enjoy, it offers crisp and clear visual image, I feel the video playing quite high quality.