9

I would like to save the current playing video in VLC to disk.

I DO NOT want to open a video from disk to convert/save, there is no video on disk. So the convert/save function does not seem to be able to do this.

I am saying this because all the answers to this question I could find say to use the convert/save function, but this function does not seem to be able to do this. It wants to open another file or stream, which is not what I want, I want to use the video that is now playing.

What I want is very very very simple. The video that is now playing in VLC is the video I want to save to disk. So this function should not ask me for a file or stream or anything else to open, all this function should ask is the folder and name where the video should be stored. Nothing else

So how can I do that please?

3 Answers 3

10

VLC doesn't have a 'Save As...' style function to save the currently playing video, sorry. What it CAN do however is... a little different:

Record the currently playing video

Just like tape recorders of old, VLC offers functionality to 'record' whatever is currently playing to disk.

You have to enable Advanced Controls first. Go to View -> Advanced Controls. You will see these options appear:

Record/Snapshot and other 'Advanced' buttons

Now, whenever you start playing a DVD or other media, you can simply hit the Record button to start and stop recording. The files are saved your Documents folder in .mpg format i.e.:

C:\Users\{username}\Documents\

Using this method you can save entire files, or just specific snippets. It's up to you.

Sources

6
  • Thanks for your answer, its the best option I got so far. But it does means I have to play the entire video after hitting the record button ? Also, how about sound and subtitles, will they be included in the recording ?
    – GuidoG
    Nov 18, 2014 at 18:01
  • @GuidoG - yes, you have to watch the whole thing. If you are trying to save a stream and don't want to watch the whole thing, you'll need to use the 'Convert/Save' -> Network option to save a new file (you'll need the path to the stream). As for subtitles and sound - yes both should be recorded along with the video.
    – Robotnik
    Nov 19, 2014 at 0:33
  • @GuidoG - How did you go? Did you get it saving as you wanted?
    – Robotnik
    Nov 21, 2014 at 5:11
  • Yes, I managed to get the videos saved. Thanks.
    – GuidoG
    Nov 21, 2014 at 8:54
  • 1
    Apparently VLC3+Windows11 saves the recording as an .mp4 in C:\Users\{username}\Videos (...and I can't find any option to choose another location)
    – ashleedawg
    Nov 17, 2022 at 2:26
2

The video DOES exist somewhere on your hard drive.

Simply click View, Playlist, or use CTRL-L to bring up the Playlist window. There you'll see your current video on the playlist. Right click on the video and from there you can click Save, or Information, or Show Containing Folder, any one of which will get you to the existing file path.

Screenshot of Playlist View within VLC

6
  • 3
    What if it isn't on a hard drive, but is a streamed video?
    – bertieb
    Mar 14, 2018 at 20:37
  • 1
    The video is NOT on a hard drive, it is streamed from an url. So this wont work. I tried to describe that in my question also
    – GuidoG
    Mar 15, 2018 at 7:35
  • This method does work with streaming video, this should be the accepted answer (tested with an RTSP stream). Apr 3, 2018 at 13:54
  • 1
    @DaniloRoascio: Depends on the source of the streaming video, apparently. Tested with a HTTP stream and CNR, the menu option is not even available in that case. Oct 10, 2018 at 12:04
  • Great answer for me. I tried to extract an embedded video from a DOCX. It was not possible to play the file from the DOCX/word/embeddings folder by simply renaming the .bin file, but this way I found it under an exotic path in the Temp structure. Thx.
    – Hudgi
    Mar 10, 2022 at 17:33
0

This is an example of downloading a youtube video via VLC command line options. The video is played very fast and can finish in seconds. The general format is:

vlc -vvv YOUTUBE_VIDEO_URL --sout file/ts:YOUR_FILE_NAME.mpg

Example:

vlc -vvv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0hm-CebrzU --sout file/ts:yoram-ab.mpg

Details here: https://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Receive_and_Save_a_Stream/

2
  • This does not answer the question because the OP has ruled out, this function should not ask me for a file or stream or anything else to open. Apr 30, 2019 at 16:52
  • Thank you @IsayReinstateMonica totally correct.
    – Pam Stums
    Oct 14, 2021 at 9:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .