VidMate

VidMate is a video-downloading program that lets you enjoy media whenever you want even if you don't have an Internet connection. That might sound like a simple and straightforward concept. But part of what defines VidMate is its extensive level of flexibility. VidMate isn't just using a simple download protocol across every site. It instead has over 1,000 customized integrations with the most popular and useful multimedia websites.

It's this tailored approach to downloads that really make the program unique. Most download apps work from a site or service back to the program. But VidMate takes the opposite approach. The program itself acts as a portal to the greater internet as a whole. For example, you don't launch VidMate from the YouTube site or app. Instead, if you want to download a video from YouTube through VidMate, you'd start by launching the program. You'd proceed to go into site navigation and select YouTube. From here you could browse through YouTube in an organized and intuitive manner. Once you've found what you're looking for you could download it for later viewing.

VidMate has similar options for most of the supported sites and services. You essentially just choose from a site from within VidMate. And from there you can use custom interfaces to find the content you're most interested in. It's not just a great way to find what you already know about either. VidMate also makes it easy to discover content within the various sites it supports. You can have a lot of fun just exploring the 1,000+ services supported by VidMate and discovering all new interests.

But make no mistake, VidMate also makes it easy to find content that you're specifically on the hunt for. You start out by choosing among the supported media types. And from there you'll have a few choices. If you have a particular item in mind then you can simply perform a title search from within the media category. But, again, VidMate also makes it easy to find all new favorites that you'd never encountered before. This sense of discovery is made possible through the various search filters. For example, you might want to check out the oldest movies which star a favorite actor. Or you could look into the latest releases within a particular country.

And while it's true that most people want to download that media, you also have the choice of streaming content. This option is an ideal match for situations where you want to try a piece of media out before initiating a larger download. Streaming within VidMate can also help you choose between quality settings. Because you're absolutely not locked into just one quality level. VidMate is obviously limited by the media quality on the site it's downloading from. For example, if a particular YouTube video is only available at 480p then VidMate won't have any options for an HD version. But for the most part, you'll be able to find everything from audio-only to full cinematic HD as download options.

You'll also find one additional twist on the options for download quality. VidMate will often give you a choice to simply download audio. This is tremendously useful in situations where the video is superfluous. For example, if you're interested in downloading a lecture from YouTube then you'd just be wasting precious storage space on video. So you could instead just use VidMate to download the video's audio track as an mp3. And you can perform similar transformations on everything from video podcasts to music videos.

VidMate is even powerful enough to get around the safeguards built into other programs. For example, WhatsApp has a number of options that are used to ensure media is only visible for a limited amount of time. But VidMate will let you save almost anything from WhatsApp for later perusal.

However, there are some downsides to VidMate. One of the most significant is how it runs on Windows. VidMate was originally developed as an Android app. Running VidMate on Windows also means using components that essentially act as a bridge or compatibility layer. This doesn't raise resource usage by a tremendous amount. But you should be aware that it will generally consume more of your CPU cycles and RAM than you might imagine. This is because the program is essentially emulating aspects of Android while it's running. Using one operating system within another, even if it's just a subset of that operating system, will always come with heftier hardware requirements. Though VidMate's Android heritage also means that you can enjoy the same experience with it on both Windows and mobile.

There's also an issue with file sizes. Streaming services often don't worry about the total size of the files they're offering up to the public. After all, people aren't downloading the entirety of the file at once. A browser can easily jump between segments of a huge movie without needing to download the entire thing. But downloading content is one of VidMate's most important functions. And you'll often discover just how huge files are when you use VidMate's most important feature on video that streaming companies didn't anticipate people fully downloading. In short, you might find yourself running out of space pretty quickly if you consistently use VidMate to download the highest-quality options. But that's easily fixed by getting a feel for which video options work best for your unique preferences.

Finally, one of VidMate's biggest benefits can also cause one of its biggest issues. VidMate supports over 1,000 services. But when online services update their sites it can often cause feature breakages within 3rd party systems - including VidMate. The VidMate developers are usually quick to fix any of these compatibility problems when they show up. But it's important to be aware that there's always a chance of sites and services within VidMate being unavailable for short windows of time.

Pros:

• Multiple choices of file format
• Custom-tailored support for over 1,000 sites and services
• Pairity between desktop and mobile usage

Cons:

• Issues can appear when sites update
• Windows support comes through system-heavy components