Reddit is a platform that provides a network of communities based on different interests. Site members are known as Redditors, and they post content, which is then upvoted or downvoted by other members. While exploring the social app, you will also come across videos that you may want to save. Reddit now lets you download videos directly from the app. If you find this feature is not working for you, there are some workarounds you can take advantage of. This tutorial shows you how to download Reddit videos on your Android phone or PC.
1. Give Reddit’s Own Download Button a Go
The Reddit app (Android | iOS) has a dedicated “Download” button that lets you save videos to your device. Note that the option is not available if you’re browsing Reddit from your PC.
On iOS the option is named “Save Video” and seldomly appears, as Reddit restricts some videos, including those hosted on the app itself. On Android, the feature is more widespread. However, it appears that you can only download recent videos, so if you’re targeting an older video, refer to the other methods in this article.
Interestingly, once you download a video, the Android app sends a “GIF downloaded” notification at the bottom. However, in our testing, the clips were saved as MP4s. This method works if you’re trying to download a short video (from our experience, up to one minute and 30s). Since we couldn’t find a longer video on Reddit, we weren’t able to verify whether it works with videos of any length, including videos of 15 minutes, which is the maximum allowed duration.
- Open the Reddit app on your phone and find a video you’d like to download.
- Tap on its thumbnail to open it in full view.
- Press on the three dots in the upper-right corner.
- Select “Download” from the menu that pops up from the bottom.
- Wait a few seconds until you see the “GIF downloaded” message at the bottom.
- Go to your phone’s Gallery app, and you should find the video in your Downloads folder.
2. Use a Third-Party App
There are plenty of apps that make Reddit a more eye-pleasing and palatable experience. Some can even help you save videos to your device for later viewing. You may want to take note of some of these options, especially if you’re using an iOS device. Alternatively, you may want to opt for a straightforward video downloader.
Viddit
Downloading Reddit videos is super easy if you have a third-party video downloader.
In our case, we are using an app called Viddit. Download the Viddit app from the Google Play Store and install it. There is no longer a corresponding iOS app for Viddit in the App Store, so we recommend sticking to Slide if you’re using an Apple mobile device. As a bonus, you can use Viddit on your PC as well.
- Open the Reddit post that has the video you want to download.
- Hit the “Share” button in the lower-right corner.
- Tap on the “Share Via” option.
- Select the “Download” option (with the Viddit logo on top) from the “Share” menu that pops up.
- You’ll be taken straight to the Viddit app, where it will proceed to grab the link to the video from the link of the post. Note that it may take a few seconds to process the video.
- Once it’s done, you should find the video in your phone’s Gallery app.
- If you don’t want to download any apps to your phone or tend to use Reddit on your PC, you can make use of the viddit.red page.
- On Reddit, click below the video’s “Share” option, then on “Copy Link” from the drop-down menu as shown below.
- Paste the copied link into the link box and click “Submit” to generate a link to download the video.
- Press the “Download HD Video” button to save it to your machine.
Curious to read content that’s no longer available? Learn how to access deleted Reddit posts and comments.
3. The Reddit Bot
Telegram has a bot that helps users download video files, and Reddit has a similar bot. Reddit bots are fun little pieces of code that can help you perform a variety of things.
These bots can help you show battery percentage, convert non-metrics into metrics, post bold characters, or simply download a video. The best thing about these bots is that you don’t have to install them or do anything extra to take advantage of their power.
For our purposes, we will be using the “u/savevideo” Reddit bot that lets you save any video on Reddit. However, do note that you will not be able to download some videos (including YouTube) using this method.
- Open the post that contains the video you wish to download on Reddit.
- Comment “u/savevideo” (without the quotes) and tap the “Post” button.
- Within a few seconds, the Reddit bot will share a comment with the link. In some cases, the bot will send you a direct message instead that contains the same link.
- Tap on this link to open a new page with the link to download in either HD or SD resolution.
Do note that Reddit often bans bots. Moreover, in some cases, this Reddit bot works within a few seconds, while at other times, it may take several minutes to send you the link.
4. Try a Website
There are multiple Reddit video-downloading websites available that can help you grab the video you want to download. A popular website for doing this is Redditsave, which is a nice, clean website that you can access from your mobile browser as well as your PC.
- To download the video using Redditsave, you need to open the Reddit post containing the video.
- Hit the “Share” button.
- Press the “Copy Link” button to copy the video’s link to your clipboard.
- Open the RedditSave website in another tab and paste the link you just copied.
- Press “Download.”
- Once the video is grabbed from the link by RedditSave, hit one of the two green buttons below to download either HD or SD video.
Prefer other social apps? You may be interested in learning how to download TikTok videos.
5. Screen Recording
If you don’t find any of the methods above appealing, you could try to take advantage of your device’s built-in screen recording capabilities. For instance, starting with Android 10, phones have a native screen-recording capability that users can start using with just a few swipes.
If you’re unsure how to use this feature, we have an article that takes you through all the steps of screen recording on Android. If you’re on iOS, see how you can screen record on your Apple device. Just go to the Reddit app, tap on the video you want to save, make sure it’s playing on full screen, then turn on the recorder option.
Alternatively, it’s possible to screen record even if you prefer to use Reddit on Windows or Mac.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I download Reddit videos as GIFs?
Yes! There’s a function in the Slide app that lets you download videos as GIFs. You’ll find it next to the three-dot menu in the app. Otherwise, once you download your Reddit video, you can upload it to a site like EZGIF that will convert it to a GIF for you.
Can I download Reddit videos with sound?
Yes, the above sites and apps should download your Reddit videos with sound (if the video has sound, of course).
Why can't I download certain Reddit videos?
Some Reddit posts will embed videos from third-party websites, such as YouTube or other external videos, and some of the apps we’ve listed in this article don’t support such formats. If you can’t download a Reddit video using one of the methods described in this tutorial, switch to one of the other options outlined and see whether that works.
What happened to the Download Reddit Videos extension for Firefox and Chrome?
While the extension still exists and can still be added to Firefox and Chrome, clicking on the tag/date/time for any downloadable link will now redirect you to the redditvideodl homepage without actually downloading anything. If you want, you can copy/paste the link manually; however, that defeats the extension’s purpose of simplifying your workflow. If you still want an extension, RedditSave (which we covered in this article) has workable Chrome and Firefox extensions.
Image credit: Freepik. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
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