How to find media files with Google and VLC media player

This Google search finds folders on the web containing video media files. You can add parameters to target specific items. If you keep digging, you’ll find lots of interesting stuff!

The Google query

intitle:"index of" "last modified" ("uhd" OR "2160p" OR "1080p" OR "hevc" OR "x265" OR "H265" OR "x264" OR "H264") ("mp4" OR "mkv") -inurl:html -inurl:htm -inurl:shtml -inurl:xhtml -inurl:php -inurl:phtml -inurl:asp -inurl:aspx -inurl:jsp -inurl:jspx -inurl:cfm -inurl:cgi -inurl:pl -inurl:do -inurl:action -inurl:md -inurl:markdown -inurl:pdf

Quick tips

  • ChatGPT made this insanely awesome web spider (Linux shell script) — Generate a list of video links you can feed to wget.
    wget -i urls
    Or...
    wget --no-host-directories --force-directories --no-clobber --cut-dirs=0 -i urls
  • Use additional terms like site:.edu, a movie/show title, or a year to narrow results.
  • Prefer directory listings showing file sizes/dates; avoid pages that are clearly HTML content.
  • If the VLC media player can play a video, it can usually stream the URL directly.
  • To preview a link in VLC: open VLC, press Ctrl+N, paste the URL, and hit Enter.

Examples found from similar searches