Video DownloadHelper Companion App 1.6.0
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: 2.27
SHA256: 889f44aeafbbcd319233e7f4fe0c2ff962cb16a87993f59e7f55e689f9fd160d
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.27
SHA256: a862814d80f1f0e5b48e4a1fd157362530a73fb7dccef7269b37ab10e441043a
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.27
SHA256: b10c9cb128e9e3d3a1413effcdb5a305cf350516bded0bdb31fe222583f2008b
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.27
SHA256: 1b3a6443a643a6a7fcda48f8ebeb4ae745f0713793680536b757971c797e48a7
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_amd64.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_i386.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_i386.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_amd64-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_amd64-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-64 install --system
Linux targz installation
targz user-wide install
# tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_i386-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C ~
# ~/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-linux-32 install --user
targz system-wide install
# sudo tar xf net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0-1_i386-glibc-2.23.tar.gz -C /usr/local
# sudo /usr/local/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/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-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-mac-64 install --user
system-wide install
# sudo <drag location>/net.downloadhelper.coapp-1.6.0/bin/net.downloadhelper.coapp-mac-64 install --system
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.27
SHA256: a862814d80f1f0e5b48e4a1fd157362530a73fb7dccef7269b37ab10e441043a
Linux - 64 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.27
SHA256: 889f44aeafbbcd319233e7f4fe0c2ff962cb16a87993f59e7f55e689f9fd160d
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.27
SHA256: 1b3a6443a643a6a7fcda48f8ebeb4ae745f0713793680536b757971c797e48a7
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.27
SHA256: b10c9cb128e9e3d3a1413effcdb5a305cf350516bded0bdb31fe222583f2008b
Linux - 64 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.23
SHA256: ddef7337a2e6be0df0b1fd8eb1d08f0127f2172c9b08e48ad6801517d70a21c3
Linux - 64 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.23
SHA256: 59a220ca4993ab3bfead3546d36e08e974b516f8fa0a256be1435fbf0bf5d21b
Linux - 32 bits - targz
Other linux distributions
Extra step required to complete installGlibc: 2.23
SHA256: 4aca2a709f000b3b9ef1e32b905513a4c4960ffdc26b4e524c905f16a10b63f0
Linux - 32 bits - deb
Debian, Ubuntu
Glibc: 2.23
SHA256: 7328e2180d87af39bb3021769ec7d4da608f07499e5409f8cae348e0f4f6f434
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 1.6.0 release
- Project Github repository