VGrab Web video downloader extension What's new Blog Feedback
Install to Chrome

Posted

Can I record a live stream while watching it?

Yes. Click once to start recording, once to stop, and you get a playable file. Players that never expose a video address are recorded as they play.

Three paths, chosen automatically

Live pages differ from site to site, so VGrab has three ways in and picks the one that works — nothing for you to judge. One: the player is fetching a segmented stream, so the segments are fetched by the list from the earliest one still available until you stop. Two: the player gives no address and decodes inside the page, so the data it feeds the decoder is captured. Three: nothing can be captured, so what the player is showing and playing is recorded.

How to use it, two steps

  1. Open the live page and press play; click the VGrab icon, then Save (on a live page that means Start recording).
  2. Click Stop recording when you are done; a few seconds later you have an MP4.

Verified example

Frame from the MP4 recorded from the live test stream
Tested 2026-10-31 with VGrab 1.1.104 and Chrome 153 on Windows. The live recording is 13 seconds long (438,038 bytes). It has a video track; this sample has no audio track.

The local live playlist was available, so VGrab fetched the segments directly. The screenshot comes from the actual recording, not the animation above. Install from the official Chrome Web Store listing, or read about saving a time range.

Will a long recording use up the disk?

No. Data is written to disk as it is recorded and a new file is started past 1 GB; if the disk is nearly full it stops early and tells you.

What if the quality changes mid-way?

Recording continues without a cut.

Can it record from the start of the stream?

On the segmented-stream path it starts from the earliest segment the server still has, usually a few minutes back; the other two paths can only start from the moment you clicked.

Other features

Next time you see one worth keeping.VGrab, the video downloader extension — the only official site is vgrab.net. One click.
Install to Chrome