Coub launched in 2012 around a format nobody else was making: a short video loop, usually a few seconds, paired with an audio track that need not have come from the same source. The result sits somewhere between a GIF and a piece of music, and it repeats indefinitely.
The form turned out to be surprisingly expressive. A well-made coub finds a moment in a film or a game where the motion happens to match a piece of music, and the loop makes something that is funnier or stranger than either part on its own. A whole community grew up around finding those coincidences.
Technically the format creates an awkward problem for anybody trying to save one. The video and the audio are separate pieces joined by the player, which means a naive download produces a silent clip — the same difficulty Reddit videos have, for much the same reason.
Saving a coub with its sound
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1
Copy the Coub address
Take the coub.com address from your browser, or use the share control on the loop. Each coub has its own short identifier.
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2
Deposit the address above
Paste it into the field at the top of this page, which begins reading it at once.
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3
Take the combined version
The video and its audio are joined for you, so what you take away plays with sound rather than silently. The file size is listed first.
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4
Keep the loop
Tap the row when it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Why saving a coub is fiddly
The format is two things pretending to be one. A coub is a video stream and an audio stream that the player runs together, and the audio frequently comes from an entirely different source than the picture. There is no single combined file sitting on the server.
That is why saving one through a browser produces a silent clip. You have taken the video half, which is genuinely all that exists as a discrete file at that address.
It is also why the loop matters. A coub is normally a few seconds long and intended to repeat, so a downloaded file will be short — any looping is done by whatever you play it in.
What you actually end up with
Because of how the format works, it is worth being clear about what a saved coub is and is not.
| Aspect | In the player | In your file |
|---|---|---|
| Video and audio | Joined at playback | Joined into one file here |
| Looping | Endless by design | Depends on your player |
| Length | Feels continuous | Usually just a few seconds |
| Audio source | Often a different clip | Whatever was attached |
| Right-click save | Silent video only | Not the problem here |
Most video players will loop a short clip if you ask them to, which restores the effect. The important part is that the sound is there, since a coub without its audio is largely pointless.
Coub download questions
Why do coubs save without sound elsewhere?
Because the video and audio are separate streams joined by the player. Saving the video directly gets you one half of the pair; here they are combined first.
Will the downloaded file loop?
That depends on your player rather than the file. Most will loop a short clip if you turn the option on.
Why is the file so short?
A coub is normally a few seconds. The apparent length comes from endless repetition rather than from a long recording.
Can I get just the audio?
Where a separate track is exposed it appears in the list. Remember the music is often a commercial recording that simply happens to be attached.
Is there quality loss from joining the streams?
No. The existing streams are placed in one container without being re-encoded.
Do short coub.com links work?
Yes, they are the ordinary form.
Where does the Coub file save?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Will the creator be notified?
No. Nothing is reported and no account is used here.
A coub I had saved has gone from the site.
Coubs are removed by their creators and over rights claims, and the platform has been quieter in recent years than at its peak.
Is downloading coubs acceptable?
The video is usually a fragment of somebody's film or game and the audio is usually somebody's music, so a coub is built from other people's work by design. Keeping one is unremarkable; treating it as your own creation is a stretch in every direction.