Download Vimeo VOD (video on demand)

vimeo-vod.md

How to download vimeo VOD for offline usage

Variant 1: yt-dlp

Using yt-dlp (thank you @ayyucedemirbas!)

You must have a Vimeo account, do not sign in via Google or anything else, yt-dlp asks for your email address and password to log in.

You must install the yt-dlp via the command below (for MacOS):

brew install yt-dlp

and then, when the installation is completed, you must use the command below to download the video:

yt-dlp -u [email protected] https://vimeo.com/ondemand/linktoyourvideo

It will ask for your password to log in, enter it. Your download should begin.

Variant 2: youtube-dl

Use youtube-dl directly to download the video (thanks @meepybub!) Example:

youtube-dl -u <[email protected]> "https://vimeo.com/ondemand/<video>"

Variant 3: extracting cookies

Step 1

Login to Vimeo and get the cookies.txt file using this Chrome plugin

Step 2

Use youtube-dl to download the video Example:

youtube-dl "https://vimeo.com/ondemand/<video>" --cookies cookies.txt

Variant 4: some Vimeo VOD downloader tool

I had a lot of success with this repo for private videos: https://github.com/Tusko/vimeo-private-downloader

Hi, I'm new to this but want to share a vimeo vod with my students (teaching online means it's difficult to stream video content live through a web call etc etc. So I need to dl the file so that they can play it themselves)

I get a warning and can only download the trailer. Can you help please?
Thanks so much in advance.

eg code I'm getting;
youtube-dl "url" --cookies vimeo.com_cookies.txt
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading webpage
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Extracting information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading JSON metadata
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading JSON metadata
WARNING: [vimeo:ondemand] url: Failed to parse JSON Expecting value: line 3 column 3 (char 6)
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading akfire_interconnect_quic m3u8 information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading akfire_interconnect_quic m3u8 information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading fastly_skyfire m3u8 information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading fastly_skyfire m3u8 information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading akfire_interconnect_quic MPD information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading akfire_interconnect_quic MPD information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading fastly_skyfire MPD information
[vimeo:ondemand] url: Downloading fastly_skyfire MPD information
[download] url.mp4 has already been downloaded
[download] 100% of 41.58MiB

[edit - took out the url link]

@poischiche-glitch in the end it says that video has been successfully downloaded

@poischiche-glitch in the end it says that video has been successfully downloaded

yes, but only the trailer of the movie - not the actual 1h film that I rented...

Hmm. Did you make sure that the cookies file is up to date?

@mmathys I'm not sure how to do that.
I downloaded the cookies just before I tried to use youtube-dl...

As far as I can tell, the url for the rented vod is the same as the trailer...
If that helps...

just a simple header (instead of a cookie jar file) is enough for Vimeo, and can simply be extracted from the javascript console without needing an extension (look for how to open the developer tools in your browser).

the following code logs the argument you need to add to youtube-dl,

console.log(' --add-header "Cookie:' + document.cookie + '" ')

example:

youtube-dl "https://vimeo.com/ondemand/<video>"  --add-header "Cookie:vimeo=xxx..."

Using the above cookie method did not work for me, it just downloaded the trailer. But, i used the -u argument and that worked.

youtube-dl -u <[email protected]> "https://vimeo.com/ondemand/<video>"

It prompts for your password and then voila.

thanks @meepybub, updated the gist

Hi. I did both steps above but sadly they didn't work. It just keeps on downloading the trailer instead of the full movie. Can anyone help me please? Here is the link of the video that I want to download: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/expresswayinternational

@dhanielcal did you try variant 1 or 2?

This was my way to resolve, hope it helps;

open up dev tools, in the network tab, filter for master.json, start the video to make sure you find the right url, right click it and copy url.
then use;

youtube-dl -o file.mp4 "URL"

before you hit enter, edit the URL so it ends in .mpd instead of .json

Thanks @poischiche-glitch, that worked for me!

@poischiche-glitch should the master.json be available for all videos? I can not seem to find it for this one https://vimeo.com/ondemand/metagame/

A paid option, is IDM (internet download manager). Already own it and it worked so thought I'd mention it for anyone who has it or might buy it anyway.

EDIT: Think the free trial should work as well for the duration of the trial.

@poischiche-glitch should the master.json be available for all videos? I can not seem to find it for this one https://vimeo.com/ondemand/metagame/

I've no idea. Maybe I should add that I rented the video I wanted to dl first. Then on the page with the full video you open dev tools etc.

I tried the 2 methods but sadly, it didn't work. Do you have any idea on how to downlod a full movie instead of a trailer? Thanks in advance.

I installed & used firefox's extension "Export cookies" when connected on the VOD page, then youtube-dl https://vimeo.com/ondemand/xxxxxxxxx --cookies cookies-vimeo-com.txt. The URL behing the VOD's one, which is the same as the trailer, but well when you're in the rental period it's the full video. It worked fine.

@rgarrigue thank you, this worked for me!

Hello, I would like to have these 21 videos for vod, but I did not understand how the tutorial works, can you help me?

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/moneyschoolexces/

T͏h͏i͏s͏ ͏t͏u͏t͏o͏r͏i͏a͏l͏ ͏i͏s͏ ͏m͏i͏s͏l͏e͏a͏d͏i͏n͏g͏.͏ ͏I͏t͏ ͏c͏a͏n͏ ͏h͏e͏l͏p͏ ͏y͏o͏u͏ ͏o͏n͏l͏y͏ ͏i͏f͏ ͏y͏o͏u͏ ͏a͏l͏r͏e͏a͏d͏y͏ ͏p͏u͏r͏c͏h͏a͏s͏e͏d͏ ͏t͏h͏e͏ ͏v͏i͏d͏e͏o͏.͏ ͏I͏f͏ ͏y͏o͏u͏r͏ ͏a͏c͏c͏o͏u͏n͏t͏ ͏d͏o͏e͏s͏ ͏n͏o͏t͏ ͏h͏a͏v͏e͏ ͏a͏c͏c͏e͏s͏s͏ ͏t͏o͏ ͏t͏h͏e͏ ͏v͏i͏d͏e͏o͏,͏ ͏i͏t͏ ͏j͏u͏s͏t͏ ͏d͏o͏w͏n͏l͏o͏a͏d͏s͏ ͏t͏h͏e͏ ͏t͏r͏a͏i͏l͏e͏r͏.͏ ͏V͏i͏m͏e͏o͏ ͏i͏s͏ ͏a͏ ͏g͏r͏e͏a͏t͏ ͏b͏u͏l͏l͏s͏h͏i͏t͏ ͏a͏n͏d͏ ͏a͏l͏l͏ ͏c͏o͏p͏y͏r͏i͏g͏h͏t͏e͏d͏ ͏v͏i͏d͏e͏o͏s͏ ͏a͏r͏e͏ ͏j͏u͏s͏t͏ ͏a͏ ͏p͏i͏e͏c͏e͏ ͏o͏f͏ ͏c͏r͏a͏p͏,͏ ͏i͏n͏cl͏u͏d͏i͏n͏g͏ ͏a͏l͏l͏ ͏t͏h͏e͏i͏r͏ ͏a͏u͏t͏h͏o͏r͏s͏.

alternative: video downloadhelper extension for chrome or firefox

The variant 1 is still working. Thanks a lot (and yes of course, if you have purchased the video for 48h). Searching for a solution for downloading the subtitles

subtitles → https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/vimeo-subtitles-download.html#2

THIS ONLY WORKS IF YOU HAVE A VIMEO ACCOUNT. If you're signed into Vimeo via a Google, Facebook, or Apple account, the variants don't work.

Update: currently nothing works. 😢 Purchased (not rented) video, tried with user account and/or cookies.txt. It seems we're blocked by Google CDN which is hosting the video fragments.

$ youtube-dl --cookies cookies.txt -u <user> https://vimeo.com/ondemand/<video>
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 910
[download] Destination: <video>.fdash-google_mediacdn_sep-video-de62fcb4.mp4
[download] Got server HTTP error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (attempt 1 of 10)...

Using latest youtube-dl from Github.

An update from 2024

I would like to point out a few minor details.

You must have a Vimeo account, do not sign in via Google or anything else,yt-dlp asks for your email address and password to log in.

You must install the yt-dlp via the command below (for MacOS):
brew install yt-dlp

and then, when the installation is completed, you must use the command below to download the video:
yt-dlp -u [email protected] https://vimeo.com/ondemand/linktoyourvideo

It will ask for your password to log in, enter it. Your download should begin.

An update from 2024

I would like to point out a few minor details.

You must have a Vimeo account, do not sign in via Google or anything else,yt-dlp asks for your email address and password to log in.

You must install the yt-dlp via the command below (for MacOS): brew install yt-dlp

and then, when the installation is completed, you must use the command below to download the video: yt-dlp -u [email protected] https://vimeo.com/ondemand/linktoyourvideo

It will ask for your password to log in, enter it. Your download should begin.

Thank you!

thanks @ayyucedemirbas! updated the guide with your approach