Guides

How to watch a shared MEGA video without saving a copy

Watch a video from a shared MEGA link without leaving a decrypted copy in Downloads, and keep it in an encrypted library only if you want to.

Updated 22 October 2026

The usual way to watch a video someone shared on MEGA is to download it. That leaves a decrypted file in your Downloads folder, and often a thumbnail in your system’s file index too. If the video is private (family, health, a personal project), that copy can outlive the moment you wanted it for.

Klenod lets you watch first and decide later.

Steps

  1. Copy the whole link, including the part after #. That part is the key, and without it the files can’t be decrypted. Klenod never sends it to MEGA.
  2. In Klenod, open Cloud folders, paste the link and choose Open folder.
  3. Choose the video. It streams from MEGA and is decrypted in memory as you watch. You can seek, skip between files and close it.
  4. Keep it, or don’t. To keep a copy, select it and choose Back up selected, and it’s encrypted into your library. Otherwise, close the folder.

What stays off your disk, and what doesn’t

Klenod doesn’t write the decrypted video to disk to play it, and doesn’t store thumbnails. The pieces it holds in memory while you watch are locked so macOS never moves them to swap, and its web view keeps nothing on disk. It can’t speak for everything your Mac does, though. The video player’s own buffers are ordinary memory that macOS may swap, encrypted. Klenod can’t erase what the system keeps, so keep FileVault on. Klenod’s unlock screen tells you when it’s off.

On a shared or public computer? Don’t install anything there, and don’t sign in to anything you care about. Watch it later on your own Mac instead. Nothing you install on a computer someone else controls can promise privacy.

Also worth knowing

  • MEGA sees the request. Opening a link tells MEGA your network address and which files you read, like a browser would.
  • Transfer quotas still apply. MEGA limits how much a free user can stream or download per period. If a video stops loading, the quota is a likely reason.
  • Only keep what was shared with you. Klenod is for files people sent you, not for collecting things from public links.

Found something out of date? We keep the guides in step with the app, and corrections are welcome.