I need to download a streaming WMV file onto my computer. Can I do this?

I got asked by Lenny the other day whether it’s possible to download a WMV file that he saw on a website and how he could get it down to his computer. His first instinct was to look for some sort of Save option in Windows Media Player, but that didn’t get him very far.

I had managed to do this in the past using a different package. There seem to be a couple around, but the one I had success with is called GetASFStream. It doesn’t have a great user interface so here are some instructions how to use it. The user interface is shown below:

Using it is really quite simple. First change the download folder to the location on your hard disk you want the file to be downloaded to. Next, go to where the video is playing, right-click on the video and choose Properties. From here you should be able to copy the URL to the movie; this usually starts with “mms://“. Paste this into the URL field  shown in the screenshot above. All that’s left to do is click “EXEC”

The movie will start downloading and as soon as there is enough of it, a Windows Media Player window will open and start playing this off your hard disk. You don’t really need this, so feel free to close this window down. Keep an eye on the application, and when it reaches 100%, your file is ready.

Enjoy!