Download Audio and Video Files

Learn how to download audio and video, as well as any other type of file, in Safari on the iPad.

Did you know you could download audio and video files from Safari on the iPad? When you find an audio or video file, long-press on the link and if you can download it, you’ll see the option to download it. It will download to the iPad’s Downloads folder in the Files app. See how to download audio and video files in Safari on the iPad.

Video TranscriptIn this video, we’re going to look at how we can download audio and video files with Safari on the iPad. Let’s go to my iPad.

And what I have here is an audio file as well as a video file. What I would like to do is download this. So then I no longer need to open them up in Safari. Now, before I show you how this works, this will not work in all cases. In fact, it will not work in most cases. The way that this works is these links, my video file link, what this actually has to do is link to the actual video file, the mov. With my audio file, if I want to download it, it actually has to link to that audio file. The MP3 file. When you are playing something through YouTube, as an example, it’s not actually linked to the file itself. It’s streaming it. In this case here, it’s going to link to the actual file.

So then I can download it? Well, how do I know if it is a streaming file where I can download it, which is what happens in most cases? Or if it’s a file that I can download? Well, all you need to do is just long press on it. This is how we get to our download option. I’m going to long press on my audio file here and watch what happens. We get a little window that pops up and I have an option to download this. So now I know that this link is connected to the actual audio file. If this was YouTube video, I would not have this download link file. So that means that I can no longer download it. So that’s how you can easily check to see if you can download it. Just look for this option here.

Let’s take a look at my video file. I go over to my video file. I long press on it. We have our little window that opens up and once again, I have my Download Linked File. So that tells me that I can download it. So let’s go ahead and download this and see how this all works. I tap on Download Linked File, and if we look up at the top here, we can see that it downloaded it.

So where did it download it to? Well when you use this option, where you tap and hold, and then if you have the option to download it, when you tap on this, what it does is it downloads it to your Downloads folder by default. Now if you’re not sure where that is, all you have to do is just tap on this icon here, and you’re going to see your files that you’ve downloaded. To view them, to see where they are on your iPad, you just go over to the right and then tap on the appropriate magnifying glass. This is going to open up in the Files app.

So I want to see my video on the. All I do is just tap on this icon here. It’s going to open up my Files app and it takes me to my Downloads folder. And if we look here, you’re going to see I have my two files. So by default, it’s going to download them to your Downloads folder. And again, this is in the Files app.

If I were to tap on the Home button, and go to my Dock, I have my Files app in my Dock. I tap on this. It just opens up all of my files. I can go to Downloads, and there are my two files.

Now there is another way of downloading these files. Let’s go back over to Safari. I press in on the Home button and now we go over to Safari. What I can also do is download them while they are playing. When I do that, I actually have the choice of deciding where I want to download them to. So let’s go back over to my video file. I tap on it to open it up. Now, what I want to do is download this, this video looks pretty good. I’d like to save it. Well all you need to do is just go to your share icon. And again, if you are able to download it, not all videos are you going to be able to do this, but if you are able to download it, you’re going to see an option for saving it to the Files app. When I tap on this, instead of just going to the Downloads folder, what it does is it allows me to select where I want to download it.

So let’s put this one in my Documents folder. I tap on Documents. This is going to be within my iCloud Drive. Now I just tap on save and it’s going to download that file to my Documents folder.

So now let’s go back over to my Files app. I press on the Home button. We go back over to my Files app and then what I do is I go over to iCloud Drive. Remember this was in my Documents folder within iCloud Drive. I go over to my folder for Documents, and when I do that, you’re going to see my file. So I downloaded it to my Documents folder within iCloud Drive.

So that’s how you can download video and audio files directly to your iPad. This will not work in all cases, actually, in most cases, this will not work. In most cases, video and audio files are set up for streaming, but in some cases you can download them. You just tap and hold on that link. And if you see the option to download it, you’re able to download it to your iPad. By default, it’s going to go to your Downloads folder within your Files app.. If you actually open up the file, like in my case, I opened up the movie, if you’re looking at the movie file or the audio file, if you go to the share icon and you see the option to download it again, you are able to download it. But then when you use this technique, you can select where you want to download it.

So that’s how you download audio and video files in Safari on the iPad.