Frequently Asked Questions — SniffVid

Question 1

How do I download a video with SniffVid?

Accepted Answer

Copy the share link from the platform, paste it into the box on the home page and select Get Download Links. SniffVid returns every video and audio track it can find. Pick the quality you want and save it. When a platform serves audio and video separately, SniffVid merges both tracks into one MP4 in your browser.

Question 2

Why does a download sometimes fail with a 403 or 410 error?

Accepted Answer

Source platforms protect their CDN links with expiring signatures. If a link is opened too late, the CDN answers with 403 Forbidden. SniffVid therefore mints media links that stay valid for fifteen minutes; after that the page asks you to parse the link again and gives you a fresh set of signed URLs.

Question 3

Why is the downloaded video missing its audio?

Accepted Answer

Some platforms, YouTube in particular, serve high-definition video and audio as two separate streams. SniffVid detects this and merges them for you, but the merge only works if you pick both a video and an audio track before pressing Merge & Save MP4. If you saved a video-only stream, parse the link again and choose both tracks.

Question 4

The download button opens the video instead of saving it. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

Browsers often play a file inline when they recognise the format. Right-click the download button and choose Save link as, or open the SniffVid relay link which is sent with a Content-Disposition header so the browser saves instead of plays. On iOS, open the file, tap the share icon and choose Save to Files.

Question 5

Can I save a file to my iPhone or iPad?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Safari plays the merged file first, so tap the share button and pick Save to Files to store it in the Files app. If the merge itself is interrupted, keep the tab in the foreground while the progress bar moves — iOS pauses background downloads.

Question 6

Is SniffVid free, and are there any limits?

Accepted Answer

SniffVid is free to use with no account and no watermark. To keep the public service healthy the parsing endpoint is rate limited, and merging very long videos depends on how much memory your browser can spare. There is no artificial daily quota on the files themselves.

Question 7

Do you store the videos I download?

Accepted Answer

No. SniffVid never receives the media file. The service resolves a link, wraps the upstream address in a short-lived encrypted token and then hands it to your browser. Merging, encoding and saving all happen locally, and the temporary tokens expire within fifteen minutes.

Question 8

The merged file will not open in my player. Why?

Accepted Answer

Most problems come from an interrupted merge or a codec the container cannot hold. SniffVid never re-encodes, so the tracks must already be MP4-friendly. Try parsing again, wait for the progress bar to reach one hundred percent, and open the result in a recent version of VLC, mpv or PotPlayer. If it still fails, the source stream is probably still being written upstream.