How Vidlens works

From "here's a video link" to "here's a folder I can review on a plane" in five steps. No account, no installation — it all happens in your browser.

1. Load a video

Paste any video URL into the input — YouTube, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Odysee, VK or a direct link ending in .mp4, .webm, .mov… The platform is detected automatically. Or click Upload File (or just drag & drop) for a local video up to 2 GB.

2. Add timestamped comments & reactions

Press C or click ➕ to write a comment at the current second.
Press 1–0 or click an emoji (👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 …) for a quick reaction.
Click any timestamp to jump straight back to that moment.
Hover a comment to edit or delete it; use the search box to filter long lists.
The timeline under the player shows a marker for every note — click to seek.

3. Transcribe (optional)

For local videos, the Transcribe button uses your browser's live speech-to-text (Chrome/Edge). For platform videos, copy the platform's transcript and Import it. Every line becomes clickable — jump to the moment or convert lines into comments.

4. Export the Offline Pack

Export → Offline Pack (ZIP) creates one folder with everything: viewer.html (interactive offline viewer), the video when available, data.json, comments.csv, comments.txt, comments.srt and transcript.srt. Use the Include reactions toggle if you want text comments only.

Getting the video into the pack

How the actual video file ends up inside the ZIP depends on the source:

Local files — bundled automatically. Done.
Direct .mp4/.webm links — downloaded straight into the ZIP when the host allows it.
Streaming platforms (YouTube, TikTok…) — web pages cannot download their protected streams, so Vidlens guides you instead: a dialog offers an "Open video downloader" button (copies the URL, opens the open-source downloader cobalt.tools in a new tab) or you can use the platform's official download/offline feature. Then attach the file and it ships inside the ZIP.

Respect creators and platform terms. Only save videos you have the right to download: your own uploads, Creative-Commons content, or where the platform explicitly allows offline copies.

5. Review offline — anywhere

Unzip the pack and open viewer.html — video and comments side by side, synced highlighting, search and filters. Zero internet required.
No video in the pack? Drop a video.mp4 next to viewer.html later — it's picked up automatically.
Prefer a media player? Open the video in VLC and load comments.srt as a subtitle track: your notes appear on top of the video.

More questions? See the FAQ, browse use cases and the Roadmap, or open the app and try it — it's free.