How to download videos to watch on a flight or trip
A packing list for offline video: what to download, at what quality, how much storage it takes, and what to test before you leave.
2 min read · Updated
Planes, trains and holiday cottages are where streaming fails. A little preparation the night before means hours of video that plays with no signal at all — without filling your phone.
Streaming subscriptions: use their own download button
Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and most other subscription services offer downloads inside their apps on supported plans and devices. Those downloads are the right tool for films and series you pay for: they're protected, can only be played in the app, and expire after a while, but they're allowed. Open each app a day before travelling to download, because some limit how many downloads you can hold.
YouTube's own offline downloads come with YouTube Premium — watching YouTube offline explains how they work.
Your own videos, lectures and openly licensed content
For videos you have the right to keep — your own uploads, course lectures, Creative Commons material — an ordinary video file is the most flexible option: it plays in any app, on any device, with no expiry. The YouTube downloader lists each version with its size so you can plan storage, and playlists download as one zip for a whole course or series at once.
Pick the right quality
Match the file to the screen you'll watch on:
- Phone — 720p looks sharp and saves a lot of space.
- Tablet or laptop — 1080p.
- Podcasts and talks — audio only, a tiny fraction of the size.
How much space and data video uses turns those choices into gigabytes.
Check your storage
Add up what you plan to download and leave at least a few gigabytes free — phones slow down and apps misbehave when storage is nearly full. On iPhone, Settings › General › iPhone Storage shows what's using space; on Android, look under Settings › Storage.
Test in airplane mode
Five minutes of testing catches the downloads that silently need a connection:
- Switch on airplane mode.
- Open each app and play a few seconds of every download.
- For your own files, open them in the app you'll actually use — Files and Photos on iPhone, your gallery or VLC on Android.
- Check subtitles if you need them, and that headphones connect.
Small things that make a difference
A few extras save hassle once you're on the move:
- Bring wired headphones or an adapter — not every seat-back or car has Bluetooth.
- Charge fully; video playback drains batteries quickly. Lower screen brightness stretches it further.
- Keep downloads to one app per trip where you can, so you're not hunting for files mid-flight.
- If a file won't play, VLC is worth having installed — why a downloaded video won't play covers the rest.