Flash videos used to be the most popular format for videos hosted online. Flash videos in FLV or F4V formats were so popular because they offer a high level of compression without substantial loss of quality and were well compatible with older computers and slower networks until Adobe decided to discontinue Flash support at the end of 2020.
FLV and F4V were go-to formats for many people, because pretty much any computer had Adobe Flash Player browser plugin pre-installed in browsers. Lots of video-hosting websites used these Flash formats as well, some still continue to use it.
And of course who doesn't want to save these videos on hard drive to have them available without being connected to the Internet.
If you are looking for the best Flash video downloader that is compatible with macOS Big Sur, read this article and choose the application to download FLV on your computer.
If you ever face the problem when you cannot download a video from a website because it is in one of the Flash formats (i.e. FLV or F4V), then you will definitely appreciate such a solution as VideoDuke.
With this small tool you will be able to grab Flash videos on Mac from the most popular video hosting sites.
VideoDuke offers downloading in Advanced mode that has 4 tabs including the Flash tab. You can easily switch to that tab and download any FLV or F4V video on Mac instantly. The downloading procedure is very fast and simple.
All you should have is the URL to the Flash video that you want to save on Mac. Just a couple of clicks and you can enjoy watching FLV, F4V or SWF on your machine.
Note: Flash videos with subtitles can also be downloaded by VideoDuke after you’ve activated the “Download subtitles” option in the software Preferences.
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The bottom line is that VideoDuke is the most capable Flash downloader out there right now. The two free videos are more than enough to convince yourself that is well worth the investment for being able to download absolutely any video, no matter the format. This advanced multimedia downloader can not only download videos but also save images on Mac and other related files from a web page.
Continuing our list, we have a Mac flash video downloader that doubles as a player for these types of videos. Right from the start, you can tell that this software is all about convenience and comfort from the fact that it performs both the function of downloading videos and the playback part.
The user interface is neatly done with a clean design and easy to use functions that are also very intuitive. You can use it with a wide range of formats like FLV, MP4, MOVE, Avi, FLAC, M4V or MP3. Another interesting feature of Elmedia Player is that it can fix any band sync in the original video file when you run it.
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Elmedia Player PRO is an excellent tool for all users that want to download Flash video online. Doubling as a player and also offering multiple playback settings, it can offer a complete experience from downloading the FLV videos, all the way to watching it in perfect conditions.
iTube offers a complete suite for users that wish to download flash videos for offline use. You can use this app to download high definition videos from over 10,000 websites, download entire playlists, record videos from any website out there, download videos privately and it claims to be 3 times faster than anything else on the market.
Of course, you will have to buy the software if you want to get an opportunity to put all these to the test.
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iTube can deliver quite a punch for any user that wants to download FLV videos fast and safe. However, since most of its features are only accessible in the paid version, very few users get to see the app at work and go with other, more accessible apps.
Even though it doesn’t happen that often, the Internet can become unavailable for a longer period of time. And what do you do if you wish to watch a video at that exact moment? No matter how you put it, in case you did not download the video on your drive first, you won’t be able to.
4K Video Downloader offers a reliable tool for all users to save their flash videos. It also allows you to save entire YouTube channels of your favorite artists, download TV shows, extraction of YouTube subtitles and all that at 4K quality.
.jpg "Let’s find out pros and cons of 4K video downloader.")
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4K Video Downloader is a great choice when you want to rip flash video from website Mac due to its multiple features. It offers a good balance between performance and functionality, all that while dealing with high resolutions.
Total Video Downloader decided to use simplicity and efficiency to deliver a great flash video downloader for Mac. Sure, it may not be the best Flas video downloader out there, however, it still does a great job.
If you want your downloader to perform one task and excel at it, this is the app for you. It can be used on YouTube, Vimeo, VEVO, Metacafe, Instagram and many more other websites.
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While Total Video Downloader didn’t get the top positions in our list, it’s still a good flash video downloader. Despite not delivering the same wide range of functionalities, it’s still one of the apps you should take into consideration.
If you’re still looking for great apps to download FLV videos, then make sure to check out MacX YouTube Downloader as well. Again, we’re looking at an app that was firstly designed for YouTube but then its scope got wider.
So, you can count on MacX to download Flash videos from more than 300 online websites and the formats you can save those videos in range from FLV, WebM, or MP4. Resolutions can start at 144p and go all the way to 4K while the user interface is intuitive and easy to figure out.
The downloader guarantees no quality loss during the download process and that’s a great thing to have if they manage to live up to the expectations.
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If you compare this app with the FVD video downloader, you will notice that it comes with some interesting features. However, download speed is also very important and if that can’t be guaranteed at all times, we’re afraid the other features don’t matter that much.
A FLV video downloader that was designed with Mac users in mind, Wondershare AllMyTube is capable of grabbing videos from over 1,000 websites. The list of video formats available is extensive and the same goes for audio formats in case you just want to save the audio part of a video.
Among the websites that can be accessed with Wondershare AllMyTube we noticed MTV, TED, ESPN, Dailymotion, Mega Video, Hulu, or Yahoo Video. While the app can download videos by copying the URL in its interface, it will also enable a download button on the websites that it can operate on.
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The bottom line about Wondershare AllMyTube is that it’s a great Flash downloader, however, the limited trial version makes it only really useful for those that need to download a limited number of videos. For bulk downloads or bigger jobs, you need to rely on more powerful apps like VideoDuke.
With the free version of the iFunia YouTube downloader, you will be able to convert and save files from YouTube and over 1000 other video streaming websites. The range of quality settings you can choose from starts at 2K, all the way up to 8K and it is also available for iPhone, iPad or Android phones.
An awesome feature of this Youtube video downloader is that it also removes the ads within the videos for a great experience.
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While it may look like this downloader is specially designed for YouTube, you don’t have to worry about that. It’s more than capable of dealing with other websites as well. However, the user interface could use a little upgrade to make it more competitive.
Next, we are looking at a browser extension that allows users to download all the online videos they wish. This extension is compatible with Chrome and Firefox browsers so if you are using Safari and you wish to run Video DownloadHelper you will need to install either one of these browsers.
In case you are wondering if it is worth it, we can assure you that it is. With thousands of websites from which you can download flash videos Mac, you will feel the full power of this extension.
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Even though it may not deliver the power we’ve seen at the previous two Flash video download tools, Video DownloadHelper is still doing an awesome job. Not needing many system resources, this Flash video downloader extension gets the job done without you knowing it’s active.
Moving on from a browser extension to another dedicated converter and downloader, we have ClipGrab. This is a free downloader that allows you to convert videos from Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and a lot of other websites that usually contain videos. It comes as another great answer to the how to download flash video on Mac.
It is free software and that is reflected in the quality of the user interface that could use a touch of smoothness. Other than that, it offers great functionality and minimal ads.
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All in all, ClipGrab is a very decent solution to download Flash video files from the internet. Offering you plenty of choices when it comes to format and quality, this small app is everything you will need to build that offline library of FLV videos.
Our next recommendation is another browser extension that works as a flash video downloader for Mac. It is compatible with a full range of browsers like Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer and with it, you will be able to download any video on YouTube.
It offers an efficient way to download the desired videos since, after installation, a download button will be added under the YouTube video player.
Before downloading flash video on Mac OS X using FastestTube, make sure to select the desired quality and format. This extension will not modify the performance of your browser and, besides the great convenience of being able to download from YouTube, you won’t even notice it’s there.
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If you’re looking for a flash video downloader Chrome-friendly extension, FastestTube is definitely worth a shot. Of course, it delivers the same outstanding results on other browsers as well and it’s perfectly capable of downloading even larger files without putting a mark on your bandwidth.
We’re looking at a Firefox extension that allows you to easily download any flash video from the internet. Not only that the extension is free to use, but it also comes with multiple settings such as choosing the format of the final file. You get to choose between MP4, MOV, FLV, or WebM.
To use it, just go straight to the website from where you want to download the video, locate the flash video and then go to the top-right side of Firefox where the Flash Video Downloader Icon is. Click the icon, select the desired format and quality and save the video on your computer.
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As far as a Firefox extension for downloading FLV videos goes, the Flash Video Downloader does an awesome job. Offering plenty of features with no costs is quite an achievement and the download process is very simple.
Flash Video Downloader Plus version is only available on Chrome. However, you will get flawless service and you will be able to download unlimited FLV videos from the Internet.
You also need to keep in mind that you won’t be able to use the Flash Video Downloader plus on YouTube videos so if you intend to save FLV videos from there, you will need to get a standalone app or another browser extension that offers this feature.
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As long as you’re not downloading your flash videos from YouTube, you will have no issues with this browser extension. Is very capable of dealing with almost any other video hosting platform out there and it’s very light at the same time.
All the solutions listed until now can be classified as apps. No matter if we talk about downloadable software or browser extensions, they are all in the same category. And while they do deliver excellent experiences, as you could read in the reviews we made for them, we want you to know all the possible alternatives.
So, if you want to use an online flash video downloader for Mac, check out these suggestions.
For all those users that do not want to install any apps on their macOS, Video Grabber comes with a 100% online solution for converting and downloading flash videos. With a really neat design and predefined categories where you can find Recent, Popular and Recommended videos plus the dedicated search function, it is a complete tool for storing any video offline.
You don’t need to be a technical expert to easily download and convert any video from YouTube using FLV.to. A very straightforward interface with a box where you enter the URL of the video you wish to download and a dropdown button to choose the format make this website very easy to use and extremely popular at the same time.
When you also add the multiple language support they deliver, you have a winning recipe.
The FlashVideoDownloader website offers all kind of downloaders for their customers. You can either use the website to convert and download directly, install a Chrome extension or get an app to install. No matter which option you choose, the result is always the same: an excellent flash video downloader for Mac that delivers great results.
Flash Video format that is highly popular today despite the appearance of many other cutting-edge technologies is a container for electronic video content available on the web.
This format developed by Adobe Systems is usually used for online videos on different web resources like YouTube, Hulu, Vevo, Google Video as well as many other streaming sites. Almost any OS (except iOS, which requires a different method of delivery) is able to open and play Flash Video files.
If you intend to download a flash video, you are going to save a video in most widely used formats F4V and FLV with the help of FLV downloader mac app.
The F4V files have the ISO base media file format as a basis. It determines time-based video and audio files. Unlike other Flash Video formats, F4V uses boxes for data storing, so such files are known as containers.
Files with the FLV extension can be played only with FLV players. The FLV files use the H.263 standard under the name of Sorenson Spark (FourCC FLV1). The sound in FLV movies is often recorded in MP3 format.
The FLV format is commonly used for video streaming, but it is also good for local storage and presentation. Once the FLV video is downloaded offline, you can play, transfer or edit FLV videos as you like. To play them you can use Flash Player that works good for various browsers.
You can download a flash video using one of the three types of downloaders available. The first one, and the most powerful, is the standalone app. You get plenty of features but you need to consider disk space and system resources as well.
Next, the online websites that download flash videos. These don’t require installation and are quicker but offer fewer features. Last but not least, you have browser extensions.
When choosing a Flash video downloader you need to take into consideration some key features like download speed, the capacity of downloading multiple files at once, support for subtitles, number of websites it can download from or range of formats it can convert the new video to.
Depending on your needs, check each downloader and see which one performs best.
This was a quick guide on the best Flash video downloader apps and services for Mac OS X. Choose any that works best for you and don't hesitate to comment below if we missed some great Flash video download Mac app.
