Long ago, when people wanted to capture the ephemeral television broadcasts of their favorite shows, they had to use a blank tape and a VCR to record it. Today, the process is a bit easier. If you want to download and archive a Vimeo video for personal use, you can do so with online converters or downloadable software. If you want to download YouTube videos, we have a guide for that, too.

But before you proceed, heed this warning. Please keep in mind that laws regarding the copying and distribution of copyrighted material vary by location. Copyright holders might also have their own policies about whether they are fine with people making copies of their work. If you’re going to make a copy of a video on Vimeo, be aware of the creator’s stance.

Step 1: Visit KeepDownLoading

The easiest way to download videos from Vimeo is to use an online converter. You need to be careful about which one you choose, as there’s no guarantee of the quality of the downloads, and some types of these services might have intrusive ads. Our favorite is KeepDownLoading as it has a straightforward and easy to use interface.

Step 2: Copy and paste the Vimeo video URL and choose your preferred resolution

To get started, find the Vimeo video you want to download and copy its URL from the address bar in your browser. Once it’s ready in your clipboard, head back to KeepDownLoading and paste into the white text box labeled Enter your URL here. After that, just click the Download button to start the conversion.

Step 3: Download your converted Vimeo video

Once the conversion of your Vimeo video is complete, you’ll be taken to another screen in which you’ll be given five buttons labeled with resolution options; 1080p being the highest possible resolution. Then it’s a simple matter of right-clicking on any one of the buttons and choosing the Save link as… option from the pop-up menu.

Under File Name: rename the file to something more appropriate than the random string of numbers and navigate to a folder where you would like to save it. Under the Save as type section, you may also need to set the file type as MP4 Video or All Files if it doesn’t do it automatically. Click Save and your video will start to download.

Note: Left-clicking the blue Download buttons will open the mp4 file in the browser. You can still download this by going to your browser menu and selecting Save Page As option. This will bring up your file manager as before and allow you to rename the file and choose a download destination.

Alternative method

Though using an online converter is the best method for downloading Vimeo videos, there are several alternatives. Some videos on Vimeo might have a download button above the description to allow you to get a copy from the site itself, but this is usually up to the original uploader.

If that button isn’t there, you can try using software like 4K Video Downloader. To get started, first download and install the program to your PC or Mac. Copy the video URL you want to download, then open the app and hit the Paste Link button in the top left-hand corner. Then follow the on-screen instructions. Don’t be fooled by the name, you can download the video in other resolutions than 4K, although it does support that UHD resolution as well.

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