Legal

Disclaimer & Acceptable Use

Last updated: 30 July 2026

The short version Canvas Downloader saves a local copy of course material you already have access to. It signs in as you, with your own credentials, and breaks no copy protection of any kind. You are responsible for how you use it, including whether your use follows your institution's rules and your local copyright law. If you enable Panopto lecture downloads, please read that section below.

How the app accesses your content

Canvas Downloader acts as you, using your credentials:

It connects to your university's Canvas with an API access token that you create and paste in yourself.
For Panopto recordings it performs the same LTI 1.3 sign-in handshake your browser performs when you click a Panopto link inside Canvas, then requests the recording from the same endpoint the Panopto player uses.
Everything runs on your own machine. There is no server, no account, and nothing is uploaded anywhere.

It can therefore only reach material that your own account is already permitted to open. If Canvas or Panopto refuses a request, the app reports the refusal and moves on. It does not attempt to work around it.

What the app does not do

It does not break, strip, or work around digital rights management, encryption, or copy protection. It contains no decryption of any kind.
It does not guess, share, bypass, or escalate credentials or permissions.
It does not reach anything you could not open yourself in a browser.
It does not upload, publish, or share your downloads.

Panopto lecture recordings

Please read this section before enabling lecture downloads.

Panopto's video player has a download button that your institution or your instructor can switch on or off, per folder or per recording. Many institutions leave it off site-wide without a deliberate decision ever being made about any particular lecture.

Canvas Downloader does not read that setting. It saves the same video stream the player already sends to your browser, whether or not the download button is shown to you.

That means:

Saving a recording may be contrary to your institution's IT rules or to Panopto's terms of service, even though your account is permitted to watch it.
A lecturer may have deliberately chosen not to make a recording downloadable. Please respect that where the choice has clearly been made.
Recordings are the intellectual property of the lecturer and/or the institution. They often contain third-party material that is licensed only for use inside a closed teaching context.

Never republish, upload, share, or redistribute a lecture recording. Not to classmates, not to file-sharing services, not to a public AI service, not anywhere. Redistribution is the act most likely to cause real harm to your lecturer and real consequences for you, and it is entirely your own act.

If you are unsure whether you may save a particular recording, ask the lecturer or your institution's IT support. Downloads are for your own personal study.

Why this feature exists

Accessibility. Transcripts and subtitles are generated on-device, for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, students with auditory processing differences, and students studying in a language that is not their first.
Studying offline. Commutes, travel, and unreliable or metered connections.
Revision. Reviewing your own courses at your own pace, in your own tools.
Continuity. Course material regularly disappears when a term ends or a course is unpublished.

Your responsibilities

By using this software you accept that you are solely responsible for:

complying with your institution's IT regulations and academic rules;
complying with any applicable terms of service;
complying with the copyright law of your country;
how you store and use what you download, and above all whether you share it.

No warranty, no liability

This software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the author accepts no liability for any claim, damage, loss, disciplinary action, or other consequence arising from your use of this software. Canvas Downloader is a free, open-source app built by a student. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Instructure, Inc., Canvas LMS, or Panopto.

Nothing on this page is legal advice.

For institutions, rights holders, and Panopto

If you represent an institution, a rights holder, or Panopto and you have a concern about this project, please open an issue or email brkbuilds1@gmail.com before taking any other step. Concerns raised in good faith will be addressed in good faith, and promptly.