Privacy Policy — 4KTube Media Downloader
Last updated: 13 August 2026
4KTube Media Downloader does not collect, transmit, sell or share any personal information. There is no analytics, no telemetry, no advertising, no account and no remote server operated by the developer. Everything the extension does happens locally in your browser.
What the extension stores
Settings — your download folder name, size threshold,
parallel-download count and badge preference. Stored with
chrome.storage.local on your own computer. Never
transmitted.
Detected media, per tab — while a tab is open, the
extension keeps a list of the media URLs it found there so the popup can
show them. This is held in chrome.storage.session, which
lives in memory only, is never written to disk, and is erased when the
tab navigates away, when the tab closes, or when you quit Chrome.
Download history — the last few download jobs and their
progress, also in chrome.storage.session and discarded when
Chrome closes. Completed files are handed to Chrome's own download
manager; the extension does not keep copies or records of them.
What the extension accesses
Website access. 4KTube requests access to all sites at installation, and Chrome shows you this before you install. It needs that breadth for one technical reason: websites almost always serve their video from a separate CDN domain, so permission for the page you are reading cannot see the video stream arriving from elsewhere. Access limited to the current site would leave the extension unable to do the job it exists for.
What that access is used for is narrow and unchanged: reading the media elements of a page, and observing response headers to notice when a media file loads. It is never used to read page text, form contents, credentials, or anything unrelated to locating media.
You can restrict it at any time. In
chrome://extensions, open Details on 4KTube and set Site
access to On click or On specific sites. The extension
keeps working under those settings; only detection of streamed media is
reduced. The options page shows which level is currently in force.
Network requests. The extension contacts only the media server for the file you chose to download, and only when you press Download. It sends no data anywhere else. Requests carry your normal browser cookies for that site so that content you are logged in to can be fetched, exactly as the page itself would fetch it.
What the extension never does
- It never sends your browsing history, page content, media URLs, IP address or any identifier to the developer or to any third party.
- It never fetches or runs remote code. Everything that executes is inside the package you install. Alongside 4KTube's own source, which ships unminified, the package includes three published open-source libraries — hls.js, dash.js and mux.js — as their official release builds, each with its licence.
- It never accesses saved passwords, form autofill data, or browsing history.
- It cannot capture DRM-protected content.
Sites the extension refuses
YouTube and YouTube Music are declined outright. Nothing on those sites is scanned, listed or recorded, and the extension explains why rather than failing quietly. Their terms prohibit third-party downloading.
Permissions and why each is needed
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
activeTab | Read the current tab's media only when you open the popup. |
scripting | Run the one-off DOM scan that finds <video> and <audio> elements. |
downloads | Save the file you chose through Chrome's download manager. |
storage | Remember your settings and the current tab's findings. |
offscreen | Join stream segments and read XML manifests, which a service worker cannot do. |
webRequest | Passively notice media responses. Read-only; no request is blocked, redirected or modified. |
| Host access (all sites) | Media is served from CDN domains separate from the page, so detection cannot be limited to the current site. Restrictable in Chrome at any time. |
Your responsibility
This tool saves files you already have the right to save. It does not judge which sites those are — that decision is yours. Many services prohibit downloading in their terms of service, and downloading copyrighted material without permission from the rights holder may be illegal where you live. Please check the terms of the service you are using. You are responsible for how you use this extension.
Children
The extension is not directed at children and collects no data from anyone.
Changes
Any change to this policy will be published with a new version of the extension and reflected in the date above.