If you love high-quality Australian dramas, documentaries, or kids' favorites like Bluey, ABC iview is undoubtedly your go-to streaming platform. According to Screen Australia's latest 2025 digital media report, ABC iview remains one of the top free-to-air catch-up services in the country.
But can you download iview to watch offline? The official ABC iview mobile app allows limited offline viewing for select titles, but it offers no native download feature for desktops. If we want to download ABC iview videos to our PC or Mac, a reliable third-party tool is necessary. That's why I wrote this review.
How I Tested the ABC iview Downloaders?
In this guide, I will share the results of our hands-on tests to help you choose the best ABC iview downloader. I tested dozens of video downloading tools through a strict testing process and evaluated each tool under a standardized desktop environment to see how they perform.
My Own Environment
- The Rig: A Windows 11 PC (Version 24H2, 16GB RAM) and a MacBook Pro (macOS Sonoma).
- The Internet: A stable 100 Mbps NBN connection.
- The Targets: Episodes 1–3 of Shetland Season 8, plus the entire first season of Bluey.
To separate the gold from the garbage, I focused on four make-or-break benchmarks to decide if a tool is actually worth our time:
- Rock-solid stability: Can it smoothly handle ABC's DRM—the digital encryption used to lock streaming content—without throwing random error codes?
- Picture & audio crispness: Does it actually deliver true 1080p HD and clean stereo sound, or are you stuck with blurry pixels?
- Pure speed: Nobody wants to stare at a progress bar. How fast can it pocket a standard 30-minute episode?
- Format freedom: Does it save files as universal MP4 or MKV formats so you can play them on any device?
What Are the Best ABC iview Downloaders? My Top 6 Picks
Based on the points mentioned above, here is my deep dive into the selected ABC iview downloaders.
Note: It's not recommended to use third-party tools to download copyrighted content. Please keep the downloads for personal offline viewing only. Follow the ToS of ABC iview and never share or distribute downloads.
1. KeepStreams (Best Overall & Most Reliable)
KeepStreams is called one of the most reliable tools for downloading from streaming services. During my test, I found that it didn't just screen-record. It directly parsed the video source file and fetched a full 1080p HD episode of Shetland in roughly 4 minutes, perfectly maximizing the 100 Mbps NBN connection.
👩🏾💻 The dynamic streaming detection is impressive. Instead of hammering the site with an aggressive download stream (a massive red flag that triggers anti-bot security blocks). It quietly pretends to be a regular browser. The payoff? I didn't see a single failed download. You get perfect MP4 or MKV files that keep the original AAC 2.0 stereo sound completely intact.
Collins
KeepStreams offers a massive "One" bundle, but you might not need it. I highly recommend using their free trial first.
Paste the video URL, let the software analyze it, and see exactly which specific module is triggered to handle the download. Once you identify that single product, you can purchase just that module, saving you a significant amount of money.
Here's how I used KeepStreams to download ABC iview videos:
- Enter the official site of ABC iview in the top search bar
- Log in to your own ABC account to play the videos you want to download
- Click the orange download button, and set preferred options in a pop-up window
- Click on Download Now. Check the real-time process in the Downloads section.
2. BBFly (Best All-in-One Downloader)
If you are looking for a comprehensive tool other than only an ABC iview downloader, BBFly can be your first choice. It's very budget-friendly, especially for audiences who hold subscriptions for various streaming services.
Like KeepStreams, BBFly can save 1080p and 4K videos with their original audio. But it supports 150+ streaming services and sites, including ABC iview. No individual module. Only one powerful program.
👩🏾💻 In my tests, I simply logged into the website within BBFly's built-in browser and clicked play on an episode of Bluey. The software immediately intercepted the video stream and overlaid a download prompt. Because it acts like a native browser.
Collins
BBFly is a Chromium-based video downloader. Because it runs a full browser instance in the background for parsing, it is noticeably heavier on system resources. Batch downloading 5+ episodes slowed down my MacBook.
3. Allavsoft (Best for Forced Format Conversion)
At first glance, Allavsoft's user interface looks like it is stuck in the Windows 7 era. Under the hood, it utilizes a robust FFMPEG-based engine that excels at handling standard HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) web players. It brings the video quality down to 720p, but it only took me 3 minutes to download one episode of Bluey.
👩🏾💻 While modern DRM downloaders give us MP4 or MKV, Allavsoft's built-in converter can save videos in legacy formats like AVI or WMV for an older smart TV. I can even strip the video entirely to extract just an MP3 audio file. But Allavsoft is slower in parsing times compared to KeepStreams, and lacks batch-detection for entire seasons.
Collins
Allavsoft might struggle if ABC iview upgrades to heavy Widevine DRM (often used for premium movie releases) in the future, but for standard free-to-air catch-up TV streams, its formatting flexibility is unmatched.
4. Aiseesoft Screen Recorder
As mentioned above, streaming platforms occasionally roll out aggressive DRM (Digital Rights Management) updates that temporarily break traditional URL-parsing software (like Allavsoft). At such a moment, a screen recorder can help a lot.
Unlike direct downloaders, Aiseesoft captures the raw GPU and audio output of the screen. It provides more possibilities, and also, it means slower saving (50 minutes for one episode of Shetland), lower quality (blurry), and higher CPU occupation (up to 75%).
👩🏾💻 I locked the recording frame exclusively to my Chrome browser, playing a live ABC News segment. I was then able to minimize the browser and continue typing this exact review on another monitor without interrupting the recording. The resulting video was saved in 1080p (a little blurry), with dropped frames.
Collins
Because it physically captures what is on your screen rather than decrypting back-end files, it has a literal 100% success rate against any anti-download measure. However, it requires patience.
5. EaseUS Video Downloader
EaseUS is a veteran in the desktop utility market, and their video downloader focuses entirely on straightforward simplicity. It serves as a dedicated video downloader for social media, but we can also use its internal browser to download from other sites.
But based on my usage, it doesn't use similar tech to KeepStreams or BBfly. EaseUS works by saving encrypted videos, decrypting, and re-encoding them. That's why it imposed a burden on my computer.
👩🏾💻 EaseUS was slower when analyzing and downloading the same videos as KeepStreams did. But it finally downloaded Shetland in 1080p MP4 files. It took me about 9 minutes to save one episode.
Collins
During the de-encoding process (like the last 2 minutes of the download), EaseUS took 73% CPU on my Windows PC. I could barely do anything when this happened.
6. Video DownloadHelper (Free Browser Extension)
If you don't want to install standalone desktop software, Video DownloadHelper is a completely free browser extension. It works by sniffing standard HTTP video streams directly from the web page. But it struggles to process DRM-protected content.
👩🏾💻 I installed Video DownloadHelper directly onto my Chrome browser to see how it handles ABC iview's web player without relying on heavy processing engines. It successfully detected the video while I'm playing it. But it refuses to download the 1080p source because of DRM.
Collins
If you only need to grab short, unencrypted clips like daily news updates, and you don't care about getting the highest HD resolution, this free extension is a no-brainer to try out. But for full, high-quality episodes, you will hit a wall.
FAQs
Q1. Can I download shows directly from ABC iview to my computer?
A1. Right now, ABC only lets you save select programs for offline viewing if you're using their official mobile apps on a phone or tablet. If you're sitting at a PC or Mac, there's zero native download support. To get those episodes onto your desktop, you're forced to rely on a solid third-party tool like the ones I've reviewed here.
Q2. Why does my screen go completely black when I try to record a video?
A2. That's DRM striking again—the built-in anti-copy tech is blocking your software from seeing the media player. Try diving into your browser settings, turning off "graphics acceleration" (which hands video processing over to your hardware), and restarting the browser. It might make your playback a little sluggish or cause minor buffering, but it usually fixes the black screen issue right away.
Q3. Do I actually need a VPN if I’m trying to download from outside Australia?
A3. You definitely do. ABC iview uses strict geo-blocking, which is just digital border control that shuts out anyone trying to access the site from outside the country. If you’re traveling abroad, you won't get anywhere without connecting to a high-quality Australian VPN server first. Fire that up to mask your location, and your downloader will work just fine.
Q4. Is it legal to download shows from ABC iview for personal use?
A4. In most regions, downloading content from free-to-air catch-up services for strict, non-commercial personal use (such as watching during a flight) falls under "time-shifting" or "fair use". However, distributing or uploading these downloaded files is strictly prohibited and violates copyright laws. Always respect the content creator's rights.
Conclusion
Dealing with buffering issues or preparing for a trip without Wi-Fi doesn't have to mean missing out on your favorite ABC iview content. While the platform lacks a native desktop solution, figuring out how to download ABC iview videos is entirely possible with the right tools.
Based on my test, KeepStreams stands out as the most reliable option for its fast parsing and high success rate. Alternatively, BBFly is more useful if you want to download from Netflix or other services. If you prefer a lighter download experience, Allavsoft, EaseUS, and Video DownloadHelper are all nice ABC iview downloaders.
Like this article
Explore more content