How to use Vidtuck
Updated 28 October 2026 · The complete manual, troubleshooting included.
Getting started
Install Vidtuck from the Chrome Web Store, then pin it: click the puzzle-piece icon in Chrome's toolbar and hit the pin next to Vidtuck. That's the whole setup — no account, no sign-in, nothing to configure.
From then on the flow is always the same: open a page with media → play the video → click the Vidtuck icon → pick what to save. The badge on the icon counts what's been detected on the current tab.
Downloading a video or audio file
When the page serves an ordinary file (MP4, WebM, MP3 and friends), it appears in Vidtuck's list with its format and size. Click Download and it lands in your Downloads folder. Use the pencil icon to rename it first, the copy icon to grab the source URL, and the folder icon in the header to open your Downloads.
Capturing a stream (HLS)
Items marked HLS are streams — a playlist plus hundreds of short segments rather than one file (explainer here). Click Capture, pick a quality if the stream offers several, and Vidtuck downloads every segment, decrypts where needed, and assembles one playable file. Progress shows in the popup; large captures are written to disk as they go, so even multi-GB recordings are fine. Keep the browser open until the capture finishes.
On the free plan you get 3 stream captures a day at up to 720p; Premium removes both limits.
Premium & license keys
Activate: after buying Premium, your license key arrives by email. Click the Vidtuck icon → gear (settings) → paste the key under Have a Premium license? → Activate.
Move to another browser: one key works on up to 5 browsers at once. To free a slot, open settings in the old browser and hit Deactivate on this browser.
Lost your key? Retrieve it with your purchase email at Lemon Squeezy's order lookup.
Troubleshooting
Nothing detected? Start playing the video first — most sites don't load the media until you press play — then reopen the popup. Still empty? Hit Scan again, or reload the page with the popup's tab active. Some pages load media inside nested frames a beat late; a rescan after a few seconds usually catches them.
The capture failed partway. Vidtuck retries flaky segments automatically, but if the stream's host cuts the session (common when a login expires mid-capture), restart the capture while the page is still playing. Failed or cancelled captures don't count against your daily free limit.
The video shows a DRM notice. Streams protected by Widevine, FairPlay or PlayReady — Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and most paid studio content — can't be saved by any legitimate tool, so Vidtuck tells you instead of failing silently. Here's why.
YouTube doesn't show downloads. That's by design: YouTube's terms don't allow downloading, so Vidtuck doesn't support it.
The saved file won't play. Stream captures come out as .mp4 or .ts. Everything plays in VLC; if your default player rejects a .ts file, that's the player, not the file.
A site that should work, doesn't. Use Report a site in the popup's empty state — reports go straight to the problem queue.
Guides
- How to download an m3u8 video — save any HLS stream as MP4
- How to download embedded videos — from any website
- How to download a blob: video URL — why pasting it fails, and what works
- How HLS streaming works — playlists, segments, capture
- Why DRM videos can't be downloaded — the honest limits
- Saving webinars · Saving lectures · Backing up your own videos
Still stuck?
Email support@vidtuck.com with the page URL and what you expected to happen — Premium users get priority, everyone gets an answer. Release notes live on the changelog.