Video DownloadHelper Companion App 1.6.3
Some operations required by Video DownloadHelper cannot be performed from within the browser. In order to be able to still do the job, the add-on relies on an external application that is called transparently. We call it the Companion Application.
Windows
Download and double-click the file, then follow instructions
Mac OS - pkg
Recommended installation method
Mac OS - dmg
Linux - 64 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.31
SHA256: d866b1ade5a24cf050810305f9be50f7a7848905322409922ad4d863d3a34756
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.31
SHA256: ee7bfdd5c9476e42644ec4a780de75e272dd331442c72ee972df5faba09a90f1
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.31
SHA256: 7cdc3cbdae2c5ac104a542bb6c41bdb02f301f1e271ad569c2713ff2516a43c5
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.31
SHA256: 39eea02d24d47e48fc4fc13dc1d076acae66d54b2b34a9ff24358b432330517d
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_amd64.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_i386.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_i386.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_amd64-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_amd64-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_i386-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_i386-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_amd64-glibc-2.27.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_amd64-glibc-2.27.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_i386-glibc-2.27.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3-1_i386-glibc-2.27.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --system
Mac OS dmg installation
Drag the dmg to some location
user-wide install
# <drag location>/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-mac-64 install --user
system-wide install
# sudo <drag location>/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.3/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-mac-64 install --system
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.31
SHA256: ee7bfdd5c9476e42644ec4a780de75e272dd331442c72ee972df5faba09a90f1
Linux - 64 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.31
SHA256: d866b1ade5a24cf050810305f9be50f7a7848905322409922ad4d863d3a34756
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.31
SHA256: 39eea02d24d47e48fc4fc13dc1d076acae66d54b2b34a9ff24358b432330517d
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.31
SHA256: 7cdc3cbdae2c5ac104a542bb6c41bdb02f301f1e271ad569c2713ff2516a43c5
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.23
SHA256: 9e519c74fa064c23e518baddba115b62ecb920bd8cd4fc5acf90088f8e9dd4fb
Linux - 64 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.23
SHA256: a9a2613c0ab356bedc28c069cf3a3bbb3944d3d9f59cbc6075a44ba90c7b7a5f
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.23
SHA256: 699ba35508bbcf9b9ed008868535d1529bda6829b9bd001990e2bd0524f90de1
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.23
SHA256: 2156b3956597f5509fa03e85b658dda49908fb431140b75c3a411593734656df
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.27
SHA256: 3fb3de383a89ab96741b11e80fc5001a8ff9e7f90013ad959516d815efa6a5c6
Linux - 64 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.27
SHA256: 2d1716ed6e9f5c6a485e1789a8652e4427b4cc94f84033957e8936e1c8f5bbf2
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.27
SHA256: 8dabac7513a7c11e72debd1e7e6cf0500788b01d49b915d1dd3d4e0ee02075bb
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.27
SHA256: d308804d882d5980b4159311bfdf493874c2780001c81738aef1e78d6ad3abbf
Mac OS - pkg
Recommended installation method
Mac OS - dmg
Windows
Download and double-click the file, then follow instructions
What does this companion application do ?
- It provides a way to write files to the disk. The only ways to write a file from a browser add-on is to use the downloads API which basically takes an URL and transfers the data verbatim to the downloads directory. Even if the downloaded data can be generated internally by the add-on, it is not suitable to writing big files like videos. The ability to write files from an add-on was present in Firefox but does not exists in Chrome nor Firefox (>= 57). Writing files from the add-on is necessary when downloading streams using protocols HLS and DASH.
- It contains a build of the very popular ffmpeg video converter application. This is required by the add-on to create audio+video files when audio and video data are streamed separately. This is also necessary if you want to perform any conversion operation on the downloaded media. Previously, you also had to download a converter for those operations on Firefox (and conversion/aggregation was not supported on other browsers).
How safe is it to install and run the companion app ?
- The companion application is very safe. It complies with the Native Messaging Protocol which ensures the application cannot be launched by other add-ons that could do a bad usage of it.
- In addition, the full code of the companion application is released in open-source to ensure full transparency.
How hard is it to install and run the companion app ?
- Running the companion app cannot be simpler: you don't have anything to do. Video DownloadHelper will take care of calling the app whenever it requires an operation that cannot be done from within the browser. You won't see anything except a nice result.
- Installing the companion application is also very simple: you just have a regular installer that you execute once and you are done. On Mac, contrarily to the previous converter for Firefox that was hard to install (involving the installation of the homebrew intermediate installer), you now just have to download a pkg file and doublie-click on it.
- Source code tarball
- Github 1.6.3 release
- Project Github repository