part of my job as a creative director is downloading lots of video. references for pitch decks, clips for moodboards, reels I want to study. it's boring and unglamorous but it's constant.
and for the longest time, every time I needed to save something, I'd paste a link into one of those free downloader sites and immediately get punished for it. two pop-ups before the page even loads. a 5-second ad I can't skip. a fake download button designed to look like the real one. and then, right when I think I'm through, a paywall appears for a file that already exists on my screen.
I was doing it maybe three, four times a week. every time felt like navigating a scam.
so when I got deep into Claude Code earlier this year and started building tools for myself, this was the first thing on the list. I just wanted a clean page. paste a link, pick a format, get the file. no noise.
two days later, downloot was live.
it works across most sites: YouTube (up to 4K), Instagram reels and stories, TikTok without the watermark, X/Twitter, Facebook, Reddit with sound, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Twitch etc. no account, no app, no ads, no PRO plan. your file auto-deletes from the server after about 30 minutes. I don't log what you download.
then I kept going, because I couldn't help it.
I have this thing about making things have personality. I think it's underrated in product design, especially in tools people use every day without thinking about it. a downloader is a utility. it doesn't have to be interesting. but why not make it interesting? I come from a design and film background and I've always believed that even a small thing can have a bit of personality if someone cares enough to put it there.
so while I was building downloot, I made a game.
Robby is an 16-bit pixel raccoon who lives on the site. he's a little bandit, masked, amber-eyed, very good at finding things that aren't nailed down. while your file is processing, instead of a banner ad, you get to play his endless runner. he sprints through a pixel city, jumps over trash cans, dodges pest-control officers, grabs loot. it lasts about as long as a download takes.
it's a small thing. but it's the kind of small thing I like.
downloot is completely free. I keep it running on my own server with no ads because I think downloading a clip you already have the right to download shouldn't cost you your attention or your data. if you use it and want to say thanks, buying me a coffee is the only ask. that's what this page is for.
no tiers. no perks. just coffee.