What is Anti-Download and how does it work?

What is Anti-Download?

Anti-Download is a set of advanced protection features offered by Panda Video, designed to make it harder to use programs, extensions, and tools that download videos online.

With these features enabled, your videos are better protected against unauthorized copies, giving more security to anyone working with exclusive content, such as courses, VSLs, membership areas, and corporate training.

Anti-Download currently offers different protection modes, which you can combine depending on the level of security you need: Simple Anti-Download, Exclusive Playback, and Encrypted Anti-Download.

⚠️ Although Anti-Download significantly increases protection, no technology guarantees 100% blocking against piracy, and no serious platform promises that. What these features do is add multiple layers that make it much harder for anyone trying to copy your content, while also making it possible to identify the source of a copy that gets leaked.

How does Anti-Download work?

When you enable Anti-Download for a video:

Panda Video applies advanced techniques that detect download attempts;
Tools such as Chrome extensions and video capture programs are blocked or prevented from accessing the files;
The video displays a blocking message, stating that downloading is not allowed.

Anti-Download modes

Simple Anti-Download

Protection designed for everyday use:

Generates a unique URL that blocks and hinders a second playback;
Blocks popular download extensions;
Available free of charge on the Gold and Enterprise plans.

Exclusive Playback (Beta)

Ensures your videos can only be watched inside the Panda Player:

Prevents your videos from playing in other platforms' players;
Once enabled, all videos in your account are displayed only in the Panda Player, giving you more control over where your content appears.

🟡 Since Exclusive Playback applies to all videos in the account, enable it carefully if you embed your videos in third-party players or websites.

Encrypted Anti-Download (Beta)

The most advanced level of protection, with video encryption (HLS):

Applies encryption directly to the video;
Blocks extensions and strengthens protection against advanced download methods;
Encryption is automatic on new uploads, at no extra cost;
Available free of charge on the Gold and Enterprise plans.

How credit usage works

To encrypt existing videos, the feature uses a credit system:

1 credit covers up to 60 minutes of reprocessed video;
The calculation takes the video duration multiplied by the available qualities, plus the original backup;
Fractions of 60 minutes count as one full credit.

💡 Example: a 20-minute video with 3 qualities available comes to 20 × 3 = 60 minutes = 1 credit.

Who can use this feature?

🟡 Anti-Download is available on the Gold and Enterprise plans at no additional cost.

If you're already on Gold or Enterprise, just enable the modes you want in the Security > Anti-Download tab whenever you need more protection.

What does the end user see?

When a viewer tries to use a program to download the protected video, they will see the following message:

Still have questions?

Reach out to our team through the support chat and we'll do our best to help.

Not using Panda Video yet? Visit our plans page and choose the right one for your business.

Who knows, you might be the next little panda? 🐼

Updated on: 10/06/2026

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