About VideoCatch
VideoCatch is a small, single-purpose tool: you paste the link of a public social media post, and it hands you a direct link to the video file inside that post.
How it actually works
When you submit a link, VideoCatch reads the post's public metadata from the platform. For X that is the syndication endpoint, the same one that powers embedded tweets on news sites; for Instagram it is the public GraphQL query the logged-out web player uses. The response lists the encodes the platform serves, two to five MP4 sizes on X and a single progressive file on Instagram, and VideoCatch shows you that list. When you press Download, your browser connects straight to the platform's own content delivery network, video.twimg.com for X and the scontent hosts for Instagram. The file never travels through our servers, which is why there is no upload queue, no waiting room and no size cap.
The only thing kept is a short-lived copy of the metadata, meaning the title, the thumbnail URL and the list of sizes, for one hour, so that a second person pasting the same link does not cause a second request to the platform. That cache holds no video data and expires on its own.
What is live and what is next
Nine platforms work today: X video and GIF downloads, Instagram videos and reels, Threads posts, RedNote notes, which need the link the app's Share button produces, Pinterest pins, Snapchat Spotlight, Facebook videos and reels, TikTok posts, and Twitch clips. Instagram stories are not supported, because Instagram gives a signed-out visitor no way to read them. Photos and mixed carousels are covered too, every item in post order, with a zip button for multi-item posts. What comes next is depth on these nine rather than a tenth: the batch downloads people keep asking for.
What this tool will not do
It will not touch private or protected posts, because doing so would mean handling your login for someone else's platform. It does not support YouTube, where the terms of service are explicit and the copyright risk is real. It makes no claim over any content it helps you fetch: the creator owns that, and what you do with the file afterwards is your responsibility.
If something here is broken, or if you are a rights holder who wants a takedown, write to hello@videocatch.org.