iQiyi was founded in 2010 by Baidu and grew into one of the largest subscription streaming services in the world, with a catalogue built on Chinese drama, variety shows, films and animation. It listed on Nasdaq in 2018 and is frequently described as the Netflix of China, which understates how much of its output it produces itself.
Original programming is the core of the business. The company commissions and produces a great deal of what it shows, including dramas with production budgets that compete with anything made for international streaming, and those shows are the reason people subscribe.
It is worth being direct about what that means for a page like this one. iQiyi is a paid service, and the overwhelming majority of what is worth watching there sits behind a subscription. What can be saved is the freely available layer around it: trailers, clips, promotional material and the occasional programme made open.
Why the paid catalogue is not here
The subscription is how the programmes get made. iQiyi produces much of its own drama, and those productions are financed directly by people paying for access. Circumventing that does not take money from a large company in the abstract; it takes it from the budget of the next series.
The service also offers legitimate offline viewing inside its own app, which is the sensible route for a subscriber. Downloads there are proper, high quality and supported, and they do not depend on anything continuing to work.
So the useful thing this page can do is narrower: handle the freely viewable material, and say clearly that the rest requires a subscription rather than pretending otherwise.
Saving a free iQiyi clip
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1
Copy the iQiyi address
Take the iq.com or iqiyi.com address from your browser. The international site and the mainland one use different domains, and both are accepted.
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2
Put the address into the field above
Paste it into the box at the top of this page, which starts reading it immediately.
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3
Take what is freely offered
Where the video is viewable without an account, the available versions appear with their file sizes. Where it is not, nothing will be listed.
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4
Keep the iQiyi clip
Tap the row when it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Subscriptions, regions and what is actually reachable
Two separate restrictions apply on iQiyi, and they are often confused with one another.
Paywall against region lock
The paywall is a commercial boundary: a programme requires a subscription because it was made to be sold. No tool changes that, and it is not something this site attempts.
The region lock is a licensing boundary: iq.com serves international audiences with a different catalogue from the mainland service, because rights were sold territory by territory. A programme may be free in one region and unavailable in another for reasons that have nothing to do with payment.
If something will not load at all, the region lock is usually the explanation. If it loads but asks you to sign in, that is the paywall, and the answer there is a subscription rather than a workaround.
iQiyi download questions
Can I download an iQiyi drama?
Not from here. The dramas are the subscription product, and paying for them is what funds the next season.
Does iQiyi let subscribers download?
Yes, inside its own app, which is the proper route if you have an account. Those downloads are higher quality and supported.
Do iq.com and iqiyi.com both work?
Both are accepted. They are the international and mainland services, with different catalogues.
Why does a programme not play for me at all?
Almost certainly a region lock. Rights are sold territory by territory, so catalogues differ by country.
What can actually be saved here on iQiyi?
Trailers, clips, promotional material and anything iQiyi has made freely viewable without an account.
Can I save with a VIP account?
No. Signing in is not something this page does, deliberately.
Where does a saved clip go?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Will iQiyi know?
No. No account is involved on this side.
Is there a limit on iQiyi free clips?
No cap and no queue.
Is this legal on iQiyi?
Saving freely available promotional material is unremarkable. Circumventing a paywall on a subscription service is a different matter entirely, which is why this page does not do it.