I built FootageFlow: an open-source footage search and link downloader for macOS and Windows

xcslys99 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:36:06 +0000

I edit videos regularly, and one thing kept annoying me: finding footage and downloading media usually meant jumping between several different websites and tools.

So I built FootageFlow，
a free and open-source desktop app for macOS and Windows.

What does it do?

FootageFlow currently focuses on two main workflows:

🔍 Search footage from multiple sources

Instead of opening many websites one by one, you can search multiple footage and media sources from a single interface.

It currently supports multiple public and API-based sources including Pexels, Pixabay, Wikimedia Commons, Internet Archive, YouTube, NASA, Library of Congress, PeerTube, Openverse, Dailymotion, and others.

The app also includes:

Multi-source search
Pagination and Load More
Advanced filters
Local relevance ranking
Multi-language compound search
Favorites and project organization
Batch downloads
Source, license, and attribution metadata

🔗 Paste a media link and analyze it

FootageFlow also has a Link Downloader.

You can paste supported public media links from sites such as YouTube, X/Twitter, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and other sites supported by the bundled yt-dlp integration.

Depending on the source, you can:

Download full media
Download only a selected clip
Choose available quality
Extract audio
Download subtitles
Export an editing-compatible H.264/AAC MP4
Manage everything through the same Download Manager

FootageFlow does not bypass DRM, private content, paid content, or login restrictions.

🖥 macOS and Windows

FootageFlow currently supports:

macOS 15+ on Apple Silicon
Windows 11 x64

The project shares as much core logic as possible between both platforms while keeping native desktop interfaces.

🌍 Multiple languages

The interface currently supports:

English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, and Russian.

Search queries can also be expanded across multiple languages while keeping the original search intent.

🔐 Privacy

FootageFlow is local-first.

There is:

No account required
No analytics
No advertising
No tracking
No mandatory cloud service
No paid AI API requirement

Optional API keys are stored using the operating system's secure credential storage.

Why open source?

I originally built FootageFlow because I wanted a better workflow for my own video projects.

But I thought the same problem probably affects other creators too, so I decided to release it as an open-source project and continue improving it publicly.

The project is still young, so real-world feedback is especially useful.

If you try it and find a bug, a provider that could be improved, or a feature that would make your workflow easier, feel free to open an Issue or Discussion.

GitHub

https://github.com/xcslys99/FootageFlow

Free and open source under the MIT License.

I'd especially appreciate feedback from video editors, content creators, and developers who work with media tools.

DEV Community: xcslys99

I built FootageFlow: an open-source footage search and link downloader for macOS and Windows