17

I've got Firefox running on the Nexus 10, and I'm trying to download a video from a URL. When I tap on the video link, it starts trying to play in the browser, instead of downloading the file. How can I download the file?

Long-pressing on the URL does not provide a download or "save" option.

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    I'd definitely say the browser is just detecting that the video is supported and playing it. Potentially you could create an HTML form that would let you enter a URL and then explicitly launch it as a download. You should be able to bookmark it and have it on your device to keep things simple. I agree though that the browser should really support saving it.
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Dec 10, 2012 at 23:53
  • 2
    Yeah, it should provide the option at least. I know some other people want it to play in the browser, but I'm trying to download it for offline playback in the future. Thanks for the comment.
    – Trevor Sullivan
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 0:08

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
6

As of December 2012, I don't see any way to get something like "Save link as" option in Firefox for Android. However, in some cases clicking on a video link automatically starts downloading the video, but in most cases it starts playing them. Best you can do is to request Firefox to add this feature. Meanwhile, you can try an alternative browser that has this feature for your video downloads.

Improve this answer
0
3

As of 2020, the other answers to this question are outdated. When Firefox opens the video you can long press the video (the video itself, not the link to it!), you can press the "Save media" button. It will then save the video to your downloads. This will work for all videos that support saving in the first place, like by right click in desktop Firefox.

Improve this answer
1
  • The strategy that DCking suggested of going into the config worked perfectly for me. I pressed reset for browser.download.preferred.video/mp4 and I was able to set videos to download.
    – Succulent Boi
    Commented Mar 27, 2020 at 9:34
2

As stated on https://support.mozilla.org/fr/questions/792670 this by design you can’t download videos without the required server‑side ʜᴛᴛᴘ headers.
The reason is dumb users get confused when they are too much options in the menus (I agree that I don’t understand the difference with desktop).
So the rule is always keep the user interface minimal.

Of course, extensions can’t triggers the android file dialog box.

Just use opera mobile classic or vivaldi…
Or learn the hard way that android is always less featured than a Windows® ᴘᴄ.

Improve this answer
1
1

I'm not sure if it worked this way back when you asked the question, but this can be done without an addon.

Change Firefox settings to tap-to-play plugins if not already set.

Then click the video link to open the file. Firefox will not play the video if tap-to-play is set to on.

Instead of tapping to play, long-tap the video placeholder until you are presented with a menu which will include an entry to download the file.

Improve this answer
0

I had to google a lot before finding this solution. In firefox everything can be configured to the finest details using the about:config link. Just type in about:config in the address bar. The resulting page will have a search bar on top. Search for browser.download and you'll see a lot of browser downloading window configurations. The specific configuration might change for different versions of firefox. But what worked for me was this browser.download.preferred.audio/mpeg configuration. Set it to false or if you see the "Reset" button click that.

And thats it.

Hope this helps someone

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    browser.download.preferred.audio/mpegdoesn’t exist on Firefox for android.
    – user2284570
    Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 15:19
-3

Did you try chrome browser. It has the save link option in long press menu.

Improve this answer
3
  • 3
    Good point, but the question clearly mentions Firefox for Android. There may be many other browsers which do that, but this question is about Firefox.
    – Suraj Bajaj
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 5:54
  • 1
    This should have been a comment, not an answer.
    – Cristian Ciupitu
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 19:53
  • @SurajBajaj : but ultimately, this is the correct answer since Firefox chose to not implement this to keep the interface minimal.
    – user2284570
    Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 18:40

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .