How to Download Crunchyroll Episodes on PC to Watch Offline?

Do you feel like streaming giants are slowly turning their backs on PC users? Even Netflix recently pulled the plug on the offline download feature for its Windows app. Is it really possible to download Crunchyroll episodes on PC? Or we are forced to choose between a stable offline experience on a tiny 6-inch phone screen or risking constant buffering on our beautiful 15-inch laptop displays.

As a media analyst, I refuse to squint at a phone screen for a four-hour anime marathon. I've spent the last few weeks digging deep into the communities and testing every method from screen recorders to GitHub scripts, to find a solution that actually downloads from Crunchyroll on PC—safely, reliably, and in full 1080p.

Can You Download Crunchyroll Episodes on PC?

No, you cannot officially download Crunchyroll episodes on a PC or Mac. Although thousands of users have been begging for this feature on forums like Reddit and Quora, the official stance as of 2025 remains unchanged.

Crunchyroll's "Offline Viewing" feature is strictly gated behind their Mega Fan ($11.99/mo., or $119.99/yr.) and Ultimate Fan ($15.99/mo., or $149.99/yr.) subscriptions, and it is only available on:

• iOS Devices (iPhones/iPads)
• Android Devices
• Nintendo Switch

Can I Trust the Crunchyroll PC App Download?

Be careful about the Crunchyroll PC app trap! In your search, you might have stumbled upon sites like WebCatalog or random "Crunchyroll Desktop App" installers that promise a native experience. I need to be very clear about this: Stay away.

These are not official apps. Tools like WebCatalog simply wrap the Crunchyroll website in a standalone window (technically called a "wrapper"). They do not unlock any magical download features because the underlying site—the web player itself—does not have that functionality code.

More importantly, these third-party wrappers can be a security nightmare. When you log your premium credentials into an unverified browser wrapper, you are potentially exposing your account data to an unknown developer.

Alyssa

For true offline capability, we need a dedicated video downloader that processes the stream externally, not a glorified web browser that just hides your URL bar.

How to Download Crunchyroll Episodes on PC?

Since the official app is a no-go, we need a "bridge"—a tool that connects your Crunchyroll account to your local hard drive. After testing about a dozen different software options, the one that consistently delivered high-quality results without crashing my system was KeepStreams for Crunchyroll.

Download Crunchyroll Episodes on PC with KeepStreams

KeepStreams is not a screen recorder, but a direct stream fetcher. Instead of recording your screen while the video plays (which takes forever), it communicates directly with the server to pull the raw video file. That's the reason why it can save Full HD 1080p videos from Crunchyroll.

KeepStreams for Crunchyroll

Download Crunchyroll episodes on PC in high quality up to 1080p.

• Auto conversion of downloads into MP4/MKV video files.
• Help download Crunchyroll videos with ANY subscription.
• Support output quality from 480p to 1080p
• Use AAC 2.0 audio format and H264 video codec
• Select the language of the audio and subtitles
• Schedule downloads and save episodes automatically
• Save and extract subtitles into SRT files
• Download a batch of videos together
• 30-day free trial to save 3 full videos from Crunchyroll

 Free Trial  Free Trial

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With KeepStreams, you can break the original device limits and download episodes from Crunchyroll on PC, while getting the exact same quality you see online, but in a permanent, portable file format. Here's how to do it:

Download and install KeepStreams from its official site. And find Crunchyroll from the "VIP Services". Click it to enter the official site of Crunchyroll with the built-in browser.

Now, log in with your Crunchyroll account (at least with the Fan subscription) just like you would on Chrome or Edge. This ensures you have access to your full library.

Navigate to the anime you want to download. Play it as usual, and KeepStreams will instantly detect the streaming URL and pop up a "Download" window. Yes, as long as you can play the video, KeepStreams can try to analyze the URL and prepare for download.

At last, a setting window will follow up when the analysis is done. Here, you can select video resolution, audio, subtitle, batch mode, and auto-download option. Click "Download Now", and you are done.

The Crunchyroll episodes will be saved in MP4 or MKV video files to your computer at a much faster speed than real-time playback. KeepStreams also works on Mac, and the way to download Crunchyroll episodes to Mac is quite similar to the Windows way.

Here's a detailed official video tutorial:

Why Not Use Screen Recorders or Emulators?

Before I settled on a dedicated downloader, I tried to "hack" the system using methods I saw recommended on Reddit. Let me save you the headache: they are rarely worth the effort.

1. OBS/Bandicam: The Screen Recorder Struggle

The most common advice is "just record your screen." However, how to record Crunchyroll episodes without a black screen is also a problem. Beyond that, there are 3 drawbacks that we should not omit:

• The Time Sink: It is a 1:1 process. To save a 24-minute episode, you have to let it play for 24 minutes.
• The DRM Nightmare: Streaming services often use DRM that blocks screen capture.
• Quality Loss: Any lag, notification pop-up, or mouse movement will be recorded in your video.

2. BlueStacks: The Android Emulator Headache

Another workaround is running the Android version of the Crunchyroll app on your PC using an emulator like BlueStacks. But based on my usage, 2 points should be noticed:

• Resource Heavy: Emulators are notorious resource hogs. Running one often makes your laptop fan sound like a jet engine preparing for takeoff (at least for my RTX 3050).
• Storage Trap: Even if you manage to download episodes inside the emulator, they are trapped inside that virtual Android system. You can't easily drag that file out to play on your TV or move it to a USB stick.

Comparison of 4 Methods to Save Crunchyroll Videos

To visualize why I recommend a native PC download instead of other ways, here is how the methods stack up against each other. And all the data is from my experiment (download 3 episodes of Yowamushi Pedal from Crunchyroo, onto my Windows 10 computer with RTX 3050):

Alyssa

Based on the results, if you're a data holder like me and are building your own Crunchyroll library, a professional downloader is the best choice.

But if you only want to get several clips from Crunchyroll episodes, OBS or similar recorders are better.

Advanced Tips for Your Offline Crunchyroll Library

Once you have liberated your video files from the cloud, you can do so much more than just watch them in a folder. Here is how I organize my downloaded collection to create the ultimate offline viewing experience.

Since KeepStreams saves files in universal MP4 or MKV formats, you are not tied to a specific player. I move all my downloaded seasons into a folder on my external hard drive and link it to Plex.

Plex can automatically add metadata, posters, and theme music to my files. It makes the downloaded library look just like Netflix, but it works completely offline and belongs 100% to me.

Maybe it's not a big deal, but subtitles mean a lot to me, especially when I was preparing for my N2 test. And that's another reason I love KeepStreams for Crunchyroll: it supports 2 ways to handle subtitles:

Remux into File (Soft Subs): This is my recommendation. It saves the subtitles into SRT or AAC files, as a text track inside the video file. I can turn them on or off in your video player anytime.

Hardcode (Burn-in): If you are watching on an old device that doesn't support subtitle tracks, choose this option. It "burns" the text directly onto the video, so it's always visible.

Wrapping Up

Whether you are dealing with a shaky hotel Wi-Fi, a long commute, or just want to archive an anime before it gets removed from Crunchyroll due to licensing issues, having a local copy is a good choice.

While Crunchyroll's official stance on PC downloads is disappointing, tools like KeepStreams for Crunchyroll fill that gap perfectly. It solves the problem "how to download Crunchyroll episodes on PC" and offers a bridge to a permanent, high-quality, and flexible offline library.