With BBC iPlayer you can catch up with the programmes from the past seven days you've missed or want to watch again by playing them direct on the BBC iPlayer website or downloading them to your computer.

As long as you are in the UK and connected to the internet you can:

·         find programmes you want to catch up on or watch again from the past seven days and watch them on the website through a method known as streaming

·         download and store them on your computer for up to 30 days if you have a Windows PC

·         play back high quality programmes on your computer as often as you like during the time that the programme is available

Finding programmes

A wide range of BBC TV programmes from the past seven days from most of our television channels are available to download with BBC iPlayer at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

You choose what you want to watch and either play the programme as soon as it is available through a method known as streaming, or download it to your computer to watch when it suits you.

Streaming programmes

Streaming is the way you can simply click to play and watch a programme as soon as it is available on the BBC iPlayer website. This is designed to work on any computer in the UK, including Windows, Macintosh, Linux or other operating systems, as long as it can run the latest version of Flash and access the BBC iPlayer website.

Downloading programmes

As long as your computer meets our minimum specifications, BBC iPlayer Download Manager is what you need to download, manage and watch BBC TV programmes on your computer. The Download Manager is installed the first time you download a programme. It stores the programmes you download, together with their DRM (digital rights management) licences and carries information about how long you can keep a programme and will delete the programmes automatically when the time limit is up.

Watching programmes

To play a programme on the BBC iPlayer website, you need Flash installed. If you want to download a programme, your computer needs Windows Media Player 9 or a later version.

The BBC iPlayer console in both these methods gives you good quality playback on your computer in a small window or full screen, providing your computer set-up meets our minimum requirements. It's also possible to connect your computer to your TV.

Won’t BBC iPlayer encourage piracy?

We hope that providing high quality programmes over the internet legally, easily and at no cost will discourage illegal downloading.

We use streaming and DRM software to prevent illegal copying and distribution of BBC programmes to protect the rights of the people who make and appear in them.