Can You Download From Bbc Iplayer To Mac

BBC iPlayer Downloads is a handy and intuitive macOS application that enables you to access the internet television and radio services provided by the well-known British public service broadcasting statutory corporation. Helps you download and watch BBC TV shows, as well as listen to radio.

The two VPN services mentioned by this article include –

Can You Download From Bbc Iplayer To Mac Download

Identity Cloaker – primarily a security service which has worked perfectly to access streaming services like the BBC by the author for many years. It only has a PC version though, so you have to set it up manually on any other device.

NordVPN is another VPN service which you can use to watch iPlayer abroad. It’s sometimes slightly slower than Identity Cloaker, but has versions for most clients – including applications for all major mobile phones. Works well and is very good value if you subscribe for one of the long term deals, they do offer a money back guarantee if you’re concerned. You can enable it on any device then you’ll be able to download the BBC iPlayer App outside the UK.

Both of these services will allow you to access the BBC, beware as many, many VPNs are virtually completely blocked.

The BBC’s iPlayer has a fantastic feature which sometimes people forget about – i.e. you can download videos from BBC iPlayer onto any device which is able to store them. So for instance you can easily download a load of programmes onto the hard disk of your laptop and watch them whenever you like. If you follow the below instructions you can use BBC iPlayer to download outside the UK too. Just to clarify once downloaded you can watch these videos anywhere, there’s no UK only restriction after downloading and you don’t even need an internet connection. Perfect for short trips abroad when the hotel Wifi costs a small fortune.

To download a programme to your computer simply visit the BBC iPlayer site and go to the programme you want as normal. Then instead of streaming the BBC live look for the ‘download’ tab which should be near the bottom. You’ll be asked if you’ve installed the BBC downloader before with this message –

If you’ve never downloaded directly then simply select yes and let it install iPlayer Downloads application – it’s not very big and installs quite quickly. That’s it really the downloading application will install and you can download as much as you like space permitting – if space/bandwidth are an option then select the SD versions of anything. Your iplayer downloader will work fine on any number of devices.

If you’re abroad, it’s virtually the same but you’ll need to hide your location in order to download anything.

The following video shows how it works


It’s Easy to Use a BBC iPlayer Download Outside UK

So just to summarise:
  • You Can Watch Downloaded Programmes Anywhere in the World
  • You Can Only Download Whilst in the UK (or using a UK VPN)
  • You can Watch at Any time until they expire (Depends on when they were broadcast but usually a few weeks)
  • You Don’t Need an Internet Connection to Watch them
Download bbc iplayer usa

Download Videos from BBC iPlayer Anywhere

The files can get quite large so be careful that you’ve got enough storage on your device particularly on Smart Phone, the HD versions are much bigger so stick to SD if space or network speed is an issue. There are apparently some methods to even remove drm from iplayer or even convert BBC iPlayer files from mp4 format although I’m not sure if any of these work that well. Indeed every iPlayer converter I’ve seen has not really been worth the effort. If you just download them normally then they will eventually expire usually in a couple of weeks, there are apparently some iPlayer ripper programs about but I’m afraid I’ve never tried them.

Can You Download From Bbc Iplayer To Mac

Bbc Iplayer Uk

To be honest, there’s lots of information on the various ways to keep iPlayer files forever but none of them look entirely convincing. Some of the solution like converting iPlayer to MP3 or other similar options on how to keep BBC iPlayer downloads forever invariably require a huge loss of quality in video and/or sound. That’s presuming they even work, what’s more the BBC is gradually extending the life of many programmes in the archive. The recent dramas have expiration dates of 12 months on the BBC iPlayer app so maybe these will keep extending and there will be no real need to convert iPlayer files to an inferior format.

During 2019 there have been some updates to the BBC iPlayer site, in particular you now have to create a user account before using the site. If you’re outside the UK, don’t worry simply enable your VPN, connect to a UK server and then create the account as normal. It will ask you for a UK postcode during the registration but as long as you use a valid one it won’t be a problem (just pick any UK postcode). The account is primarily to keep track of your preferences and viewing habits in a user profile. However they have also recently extended the expiry time of programmes, most are now available for a full twelve months on BBC iPlayer. This increased time also applies to BBC iPlayer downloads abroad, which is great news!

If you leave the VPN connected, then you can watch any of the programmes by streaming them directly to your computer. Make sure you’re connected to a UK server though, this ensures that you have a UK IP address when connected. Although the BBC have been blocking some of the less sophisticated VPN services during 2017 there are still a selection that are still working fine. The one I recommend is called Identity Cloaker which has been working fine with BBC iPlayer for nearly ten years. It is also extremely fast which makes it ideal if you want to download videos from BBC iplayer quickly.

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Released in 2007, BBC iPlayer is a popular online video streaming service for people in UK. It enjoys great popularity for the various channels and TV shows it provides. And it supports a wide range of devices from Windows, Mac OS to Android, iOS, Windows Phone and many others. Though stream video on BBC iPlayer is great, sometimes the video seems to buffer endlessly, thus you may want to record BBC iPlayer for offline watching.

In fact, BBC iPlayer provides a built-in downloader for its users to save the streaming video in their local disk. However, the downloaded videos will expire and be deleted automatically after 30 days. In this case, you may wonder the solutions below to record those BBC iPlayer videos and keep them on your computer permanently.

Three Feasible Solutions to Record iPlayer Stream

Bbc iplayer app on pc

#1. Apowersoft Screen Recorder Pro (Windows)

Can You Download Bbc Iplayer On Mac

For those who want to capture iPlayer stream easily with high quality, Apowersoft Screen Recorder is a good choice. Being simple yet powerful, it gives you the ability to record any screen activity with different audio input within a few clicks. And it provides different recording modes for you to choose from including Region, Full Screen, Web Camera, Around Mouse and Only Audio. Plus, this application also enables you to take screenshots, upload videos, or even create schedule tasks for recording.

Bbc Iplayer Download Windows 10


As you’d expected, recording BBC iPlayer video is also feasible with this program. It’s indeed a worth trying application. You can download it from below and give it a try! To know more about how to record from iPlayer, you can refer to the guide below.

  • Launch this program and configure some settings in “Options” before recording. From here, you can select the directory folder, output video format, hotkeys and more.
  • Then you can navigate to the webpage of iPlayer stream video you want to record.
  • Back to this screen recording program and drop down the “Record” menu to choose one recording mode as you want. If region mode is selected, you can drag your mouse along the video you want to capture and release the mouse, click “OK”. Then the iPlayer video will be recorded.
  • Whenever you want to finish recording, simply press the stop recording hotkey or click the red stop button on the toolbar.

Above are the detailed steps to record from BBC iPlayer using this screen recorder. For your convenience, its online version is also available for use without any charge. Simply go to the webpage of this online screen recorder and hit the blue “Start Recording” to run the program. Wait till the java pops up and hit “Run”. Once done, this program will appear on your screen. And then you can use it as well.

#2. CamStudio (Windows)

Another tool that can be used to make screencast on Windows and save in AVI and FLV format is CamStudio. Despite the fact that it does not comes with many powerful functions, it’s indeed simple to use. Similar to the former application, CamStudio also allows for annotating screen with different shapes, text and others, just like the Apowersoft Screen Recorder. Also, this program works great on recording videos from BBC iPlayer, simply check the steps below to learn how to use it to do this trick.

Can You Download From Bbc Iplayer To Mac Os

  • Download this tool from its official webpage and install it.
  • Run it and click “Options” to change the default settings as you wish.
  • Once these settings are done, Stream the video in iPlayer and click the red record button at the left top corner of CamStudio.
  • Stop the recording when the video is over.

#3. Apowersoft Mac Screen Recorder (Mac)

Download Bbc Iplayer Usa

Apowersoft Mac Screen Recorder is a simple to use screencasting program available on Mac OS. Similar to other screen capture applications, it can record any portion of the screen with a few clicks. Audio input from system sound and microphone can also be captured. Moreover, it also supports converting videos to various video and audio formats. It can also merge video files into one. And if you desire to record iPlayer video on Mac, this is a nice choice for you. You can follow the steps below to record from iPlayer.

Bbc Iplayer App On Pc

  • Download and install this program to your Mac.
  • Click “Options” to configure some settings.
  • Open the iPlayer video you like and then back to this program.
  • Press the “Record” button to begin recording and select the desirable mode, then play the video.
  • Simply press stop whenever you want to finish the recording.

Those are the three recommended ways to record BBC iPlayer Video on Windows and Mac. Among them, Apowersoft Screen Recorder is a better choice as it’s simple to use and provides more useful functions as compared with CamStudio. Moreover, it offers both online and desktop version for use.

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