Guide

How to download 红果 (Hongguo) short-dramas to your PC in 1080p

Short dramas move fast, and a weak connection can spoil an evening of watching. The simple fix is to keep your own copy on your PC. Here is your first download with Hongguo Downloader 2.0, step by step. New to the app? Start with what Hongguo Downloader is.

What you'll need

• A PC with Windows 10 (version 2004 or newer) or Windows 11, 64-bit
• An internet connection, to browse and download
• Free disk space: the series window shows what a series needs before you download. In the Step 3 picture, 71 episodes take about 734 MB in 1080p, and less in the smaller sizes.
• The free Hongguo Downloader Setup (158.6 MB): download it here

That's all. Setup brings everything the app needs, so there's nothing else to install, no emulator and no account.

Download a Hongguo drama in 4 steps

Step 1: Install Hongguo Downloader

Click the official download button and run Setup. It installs for your Windows account only, so it needs no administrator rights, and adds Start menu and desktop shortcuts named Hongguo Downloader. The app opens on Browse, with nothing to sign into.

If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”, that's SmartScreen, Windows' reputation check for files few people have run yet. It isn't a virus warning. If you downloaded Setup from this site, click More info, then Run anyway. Our SmartScreen guide shows each step.

Have version 1? Close it before you install. The questions below explain how your key comes with you, and here's what's new in 2.0.

Step 2: Find the drama you want

Start wherever you like: Browse with its filters, the search box, Ranking, New, or Link for a pasted share link or message. It works the same for live-action, comic and AI dramas (AI 短剧).

• Browse: the whole catalogue, with filters such as genre, theme and release time.
• Search: type a title into the box at the top (Ctrl+F jumps there).
• Ranking: Hongguo's own charts, such as Trending, Top rated and Hot search.
• New: releases from the last 7, 14, 30 or 90 days, newest first.
• Link: paste share messages, links or series IDs, one or many, then click Find series. A link pasted into the search box gets an Open in Link button.

Drama titles show in Chinese, as on 红果; the app itself is in English. In Browse, New and Link, dramas you already have show a Downloaded mark.

Step 3: Choose your episodes and quality

Click a cover to open its series window. Every episode starts selected. Click one to leave it out, or use Select all and Clear. Pick a quality: the window shows the sizes the series really comes in, from 1080p down to 360p, with about how much space each takes.

• Seasons: a series with more than one season lists them all, and one that's announced but not out yet is marked Soon. Click a season to see its episodes.
• Play: watch in the built-in player first. Episodes 1 to 5 of any series are free to watch, and watching isn't counted.
• Quality: 1080p is picked to start with, and the app remembers your choice.
• Save folder: shown at the bottom, with Change to pick another.

Downloads come in the original 1080p. A few episodes have no 1080p copy: those come in 720p, and Downloads tells you how many.

Step 4: Download and watch

Click Download. The button says how many episodes you picked, such as Download 71 episodes, and a short message confirms it: click View, or Downloads in the left panel, to follow along.

Downloads shows each series on its own row with its progress and speed, plus the total speed at the top. A failed series has Retry, and Stop all stops every download that hasn't finished (it asks first); episodes already downloaded stay in their folders.

Everything you download shows up in your Library, with Play and Open folder on every cover. Play opens the built-in player over the app window, and downloaded episodes play straight from your PC with no internet.

How to grab a whole series (or several) at once

You never have to download one episode at a time:

• A whole series: every episode starts selected, so one click on Download takes them all.
• Every season: in a series with more than one season, Download all 3 seasons (the number matches the series) adds every season that's out.
• Straight from a cover: point at a cover in Browse, Ranking or New and click the small download button in its top-right corner to take every episode.
• Several series from links: paste several share links into Link, click Find series, then Download all.

Several series download side by side, and any more wait their turn. Settings > At once sets how many series, and episodes of each, download together. On the free plan, each new series, and each season, uses one of the day's 2.

Keep up with new seasons

When a drama you downloaded gets a new season, it shows up in your Library under New seasons. Open that tab and click Download all new seasons to get them all in one go. On the free plan, each new season counts as one of the day's 2 new series.

Why not just screen-record or use the official app's own download?

If you only watch now and then, streaming in the 红果 app may be all you need. For keeping a series, here's the honest difference:

• Screen recording is free but slow: one episode at a time, in real time, at whatever your screen shows.
• In-app downloads stay inside the app and can disappear when the show, or your subscription, does.
• A downloader saves clean MP4 files you keep, a whole series at a time.

See the full comparison on the home page.

Is it free?

Yes. The free plan downloads 2 new series a day, every episode of both, with no card and no account. Watching the first 5 episodes of any series in the app's player is free too, and isn't counted: that's watching, not downloading. A series you started stays free to finish, and each season counts as its own series. The count resets every day at 00:00 UTC (the app shows when that is where you are), and the free plan needs an internet connection.

For unlimited downloads, pick a plan: Monthly at $9.99 a month, Yearly at $29.99 a year (the most popular: about $2.50 a month, save 75% compared with Monthly), or Lifetime at $59.99 once, for the life of the product. Monthly and Yearly renew until you cancel. With a plan, every episode also plays in the app's player. All sales are final, with no refunds except where the law requires one, so please try the free plan first.

Frequently asked questions