Download Video (or Audio) from a URL — On Your Desktop
Paste a link from YouTube and 1800+ other sites, choose Video or just the Audio, optionally grab a whole playlist. MiniMax Converter fetches the file locally and hands it straight to the converter so you can pick the final format. No browser plugins, no upload, no file-size cap, no watermark.
How to use it
- Open the Download from URL tool and paste the page link into the URL field; set the output folder (it defaults to your Downloads).
- Tick "Treat as playlist" only if you want every item in the list — leave it off to grab a single video.
- Click Video for the full picture-and-sound file (best video + best audio, muxed to MP4) or Audio for the soundtrack only in its original codec.
- When the download finishes it opens automatically in the audio or video converter, where you pick the final format and save.
What you actually get
The downloader grabs the best available video and audio the site offers — there is no re-encoding at this stage, so the file is a faithful copy of the source, not a degraded re-render. Video is muxed to MP4; Audio is kept in its original container (m4a, opus, webm-audio, etc.). The moment it lands, the file is passed to the normal converter screen where you decide the final format and quality.
Audio-only, playlists, and the handoff
Hit Audio and only the sound track is fetched — handy for music, podcasts, or lectures. From the converter you can keep it lossless (FLAC/WAV) or transcode to MP3 at the bitrate you choose; note that going to MP3 is lossy, so for archival keep the original or use FLAC. Tick Treat as playlist to pull a whole list at once — every downloaded item is handed to the batch converter together. The bundled yt-dlp engine can be refreshed in one click from the System menu, which keeps sites working as they change.
Why offline?
Browser-based "URL downloaders" run your link through their servers: they cap length and resolution, throttle speed, plaster the page with ads, and many quietly inject a watermark or log every link you paste. Here the fetch happens entirely on your machine — full resolution, no length limit, no ads, and the only thing your URL ever touches is the site you pasted and your own disk.
Questions and answers
Which sites are supported?
It uses yt-dlp under the hood, which supports YouTube plus roughly 1800 other video and audio sites. Coverage tracks whatever yt-dlp currently handles, and you can update the engine from the System menu to keep up with site changes.
Can I download just the audio instead of the whole video?
Yes. Click the Audio button and only the sound track is fetched in its original codec, then the audio converter opens so you can save it as MP3, FLAC, WAV, and more. Converting to MP3 is lossy; choose FLAC or WAV if you want to keep full quality.
Does it download playlists?
Yes, but only if you tick "Treat as playlist" first — it is off by default so a normal share link grabs a single video even if the URL carries a stray list parameter. When on, every item is downloaded and handed to the batch converter together.
A YouTube link says it needs to confirm I'm not a bot. What do I do?
Stay logged into YouTube in any browser on the same computer (Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Brave, or Edge). The app automatically reads that browser's cookies to pass the check — you don't enter any credentials in the app itself.
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Get MiniMax Converter
Cross-platform desktop app. Linux free for non-commercial use; Windows & macOS one-time €20 license. No subscription, no telemetry, no account.