2 posts tagged with "extension"

Some users have noticed recently that WhaleDown is unable to load browser extensions. Since this extension doesn't load, many encrypted videos can't be played after being downloaded because they can't be decrypted.

Our development team provided a workaround in version 2025.11.4. If you have problems about decrypting videos, we recommend that you upgrade WhaleDown to this version.

What's happened​

As of version 142, Google Chrome no longer allows browser extensions to be loaded locally. However, users who have already installed the WhaleDown extension are unaffected.

For WhaleDown's new users, they were deeply hurt by Google's decision. We also found many people on the internet complaining about this problem and looking for solutions.

Thanks to our development team, they devised a state-of-the-art solution to this problem.

Our workaround​

On the Windows platform, we simulate human operations to load local browser extensions. When the extension is first loaded, WhaleDown opens the chrome://extensions page and clicks the Load Unpacked button. The following dialog actions are all automatically completed within seconds.

Due to differences in safety mechanisms, we have different workaround on macOS. WhaleDown has Chromium(Open source version of Google Chrome) built in, which allows browser extensions to be loaded locally.

What's next​

We plan to release this browser extension on the Chrome Web Store in 2026. Now our development team is working hard to refine the extension.

In the future, WhaleDown won't need to have Chromium built into the macOS version. Additionally, this extension will bring more exciting features.

We're excited to release WhaleDown 2025.07.1. This release brings some important bug fixes.

What's new​

We've added Subtitle Preferences section in Downloader Settings. You can set the language of the subtitles you want to download in advance.

When the visited website (e.g. arte.tv) is supported, WhaleDown will download the subtitles at the same time as the video is downloaded.

The download will fail when the site is not supported, or there are no subtitles in the corresponding language.

Bug fixes​

1. Unable to load extension​

Some users feedbacks that Chrome was unable to load the WhaleDown extension. Our developer investigation revealed that Chrome 137 removed the 'load-extension' command line flag. All users using Chrome 137+ are affected by this bug.

We fixed this bug with a few tricks. Now you can go ahead and download DRM-protected videos. In the future, we'll look at other ways to load browser extensions.

2. Video loss bug​

Some users have reported that when they download videos from websites like Vimeo, there are audios only. This bug is caused by malformed data. This annoying bug was easily fixed by our developers.

We're now pushing an update with additional bug fixes to all users. We strongly recommend that you update to the current version 2025.07.1.