How Do I Download A Video From Youtube

There are billions of hours of video on YouTube. Literally. And that'southward hardly the nigh phenomenal statistic nigh the site, which has been the go-to destination for uploading and watching video since 2005. That said, sometimes, you really want or need to have one of those videos on your ain computer or phone. Merely when the topic of downloading YouTube videos comes upwards, there's a side subject that must be broached: Is it legal?

On the copyright front, as long as you're downloading a video for your own personal offline utilize, you're probably okay. Information technology's more blackness and white when yous consider Google's terms of service for YouTube, which read: "You are not allowed to...admission, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, brandish, sell, license, alter, change or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the corresponding rights holders."

Watching YouTube videos offline through unofficial channels takes money from Google and video creators. At that place's a reason YouTube runs ads: People make a living this way.

Manifestly, stealing videos from YouTube is a big no-no. If y'all want to share a video, YouTube and most other video sites brand information technology easy, from embedding to emailing to sharing via social networks. You lot only exercise not demand to download a video nigh of the fourth dimension.

Nonetheless, you take your reasons. If you lot must download a YouTube video—absolutely need to, just for yourself, and not for dissemination, and not to be a full douche-nozzle—hither's how.

Note: This story is updated ofttimes every bit the tools involved change regularly. Some of those changes are not e'er pleasant, such equally software and then full of "extras," it gets flagged as malware by antivirus tools. The same goes for the helper websites—a change in a site's advertising network can also create bug with malware.

To forestall this from becoming a laundry list of programs and sites that can download YouTube videos, we came up with a few rules for inclusion. Services must:

Support 4K downloads fifty-fifty in the free version.
Work with top iii video sites:YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo.
Download entire playlists or channels in a batch (on YouTube), at least with a paid version.
Output to MP3 for audio (or offer companion software that does and then).
Have an interface thatdoesn't suck.
Not collect your personal data across your email address.
Not contain malware. If at that place'southward even a whiff of it in the air, even a PUP, it'due south out.

The programs, services, and sites in this story are all complimentary of spam/virus/problems as of this writing, but caveat emptor. Big time. Especially if y'all're non really emptor-ing.

YouTube Premium Downloads

Now bachelor for subscribers of YouTube Premium—the paid version of YouTube that allows you to scout without ads—are video downloads. Kind of. There's 1 caveat with quality: All the video you download is express to 1080p quality max, or lower. No 4K.

The biggest issue is, this feature doesn't actually download a video to save on your figurer forever. It is more than alike to the download characteristic found on mobile apps for Netflix and Hulu, which makes a streaming video available to watch later using your local storage and views it using the app's interface only. This is not a method that allows you lot to, say, watch a video using different software such every bit the VLC Media Player.

Y'all access the download by going to the YouTube hamburger menu and selecting Downloads to view the list of what you've grabbed. The page says "Downloads remain bachelor equally long every bit your device has an active internet connection at least once every thirty days." This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for in a download. But the tools below deliver exactly that.

Desktop Software

Third-party software is where you will get the best control over downloading online videos. Typically, you paste the URL for the YouTube video you want into the programme, and it downloads the highest quality version it can find. For videos in 1080p Loftier Definition (HD) format, that's usually an MP4 file. For annihilation college in quality—4K or 8K—the file format is typically MKV.

In the past, YouTube videos were Flash-based, so your download was an FLV file, simply those tend to be harder to play back. MP4 (short for MPEG-4 Function fourteen multimedia format) plays everywhere

Note that the MKV file, also chosen a Matroska, is a container—the file could contain video utilizing any number of codecs inside. The fool-proof way to play them all is to employ the VLC Media Player for Windows, which plays everything. (Read more than almost it below.) As for the downloaders, here are the best options.

VLC Media Player

Free; Windows, macOS, Linux

We mention VLC Media Player in a higher place because it's a fantastic tool for Windows, Mac, and Linux users that plays back just about any media ever created. It as well has the ability to download YouTube videos, albeit in a convoluted way. (If y'all come across any problems, try a full re-install of VLC and clear your cache to brand it piece of work.)

Re-create a URL from a YouTube video, then open up up VLC. From the Media menu, select Open up Network Stream (Ctrl+Northward) and paste in the URL. Click Play. When the video is playing, go to Tools > Codec Data. At that place is a box at the bottom chosen "Source"—copy the URL yous observe in that box.

Get back to your browser and paste the URL—it's a temporary web address and will expire somewhen—in the accost bar and offset playing the video. When you're viewing the video in the browser, click the three-dot card at the lower right for the download option to keep it locally.

However, information technology appears that VLC is only going to relieve your file every bit 1080p and not whatsoever higher, even if the original YouTube stream was bachelor in 1440p or 2160p (aka 4K). It also won't convert video to other formats. To get those options, yous need the desktop software below.

4K Video Downloader

Costless or $15 for lifetime license on 3 computers; Windows, macOS, Ubuntu Linux, Android

Multi-lingual 4K Video Downloader (4KVD) is frequently updated and features clear download links on the programme's website; no ad traps here. The software does what it advertises in a simple interface. It grabs videos up to 8K in quality and downloads to enough of formats. Just copy a YouTube URL and click the Paste Link push to get started. 4KVD volition even catch subtitles, entire playlists, and all the videos in a aqueduct to which you subscribe. The sites supported are limited to the big names similar YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and a few others, just that covers most of what you need. Information technology does display a large imprint advertising to keep the lights on and you're limited to 30 downloads a day on the costless version.

I had to make a switch from MP4 to MKV format to get my examination video to download in 4K. 4KVD snagged the 3-minute, 229.7MB file for the moving picture trailer in about ane minute and twenty seconds. 4KVD defaults back to 1080p HD, so I made the aforementioned switch when downloading an Ultra High Definition (8K) playlist.

If you enable the Smart Mode and its presets, 4KVD can perform i-click downloads to your favorite format. If yous desire to download more than 25 videos at a time or subscribe to YouTube channels to instantly download the latest, that requires the paid version. Playback of the resulting MKV files via VLC Media Player was flawless.

The program itself has an choice to excerpt audio to MP3 format, so you lot don't even demand the 4K YouTube to MP3 companion software.

VideoProc Converter

$59.xc for one yr, $78.90 lifetime, $119.90 family (2-5 PCs); Windows, macOS

The powerful VideoProc from Digiarty comes in an editor edition and this converter, which also provides editing and effects. The downloading attribute is bully, a version similar to Digiarty'south WinX YouTube Downloader, which you lot can still find but is not promoted by the company these days. This makes sense, every bit VideoProc Converter handles a lot of downloading, supposedly supporting 4K from over one,000 websites. With hardware acceleration, information technology promises some speed. Thankfully, it frequently offers price discounts.

To employ it, you open the software, let it detect your hardware to see what you accept to aid with acceleration (if annihilation). Click the Downloader button, click Add video to place as many URLs as you want to batch, then Download At present. Or you can get a whole YouTube playlist or live stream. Information technology grabbed our 697MB test 4K video to WEBM format in well-nigh 2 minutes and 15 seconds, which isn't bad. Best of all, the trial version of VideoProc Converter, which limits conversions to v minutes, doesn't appear to limit downloads.

FlixGrab

1-twelvemonth license $44.99 plus tax (or $9.99 for Free YouTube Download); Windows

Like some others, FlixGrab has several different programs available, many with overlapping features. For instance, it has FlixGrabMS (a version you go from the Microsoft Shop to run on Windows 10/11)—but information technology wouldn't permit me grab video from YouTube. The straight download of the FlixGrab plan from the flixgrabapp.com site did piece of work with YouTube and several other sites,. Plus it offers a Free YouTube Download that is specific to YouTube, yet uses the same like shooting fish in a barrel-to-employ interface. The downside, as with others, is the high subscription price, just it'southward the simply style to go high-quality downloads. The YouTube-only version is essentially cheaper at $nine.99 per year, nevertheless. Neither comes with a trial menstruum.

5KPlayer

Free; Windows and macOS

The complimentary 5KPlayer is a lot more than a downloader, simply it's got a heck of an integrated downloader. Promising no viruses, ads, or plug-in requirements is a good start. It is, sadly, one of the few tested that asks for a registration of your proper noun and electronic mail—you have to do that to go the full download role beyond 300+ sites. However, yous tin can however nab 4K vids from YouTube without registering.

When downloading, the programme does try to hide some things. Paste in the URL for a YouTube video and the analysis engine runs and shows only a few download options. Click the gear icon, then the Show All button, and scroll to run into more—like a 4K 3,840-by-2,160 file in WebM format. The 227MB WebM test download took an agonizing six.5 minutes. Grabbing playlists was possible, but you must arrange download settings one video at a fourth dimension. The confusing interface makes information technology hard to go back to the other videos in the playlist.

5K Player also features DLNA server playback so videos you take hold of tin can exist watched on any devices that support DLNA, plus it supports AirPlay for quick playback to Apple devices. Pick a video in the library for quick conversion to MP4, MP3, or even ACC (the sound format preferred by iOS). The player didn't similar playing back the overly large 4K file, though, and experienced buffering problems (VLC didn't have any trouble with the same file).

Ultimately, at that place'due south a lot to like about 5K Player, from the toll to the features, especially if y'all look at them as extras on a downloader. Merely the bad interface, slow download speeds, and playback issues may have y'all looking elsewhere.

Helper Websites

Do you want to avert installing software? Video download helper sites are supposed to practice the download work for you. All of them do one bones affair: You requite them a YouTube URL (or some other video site, if supported), they parse information technology, give you a pick of what size download you want, and provide a link to said download. They work on any platform, sometimes even on mobile devices. You don't have to install annihilation on your PC. It tin take a lot longer, depending on the size and quality of the video yous want, but you can't crush the convenience.

The problem is, you tin can't always trust them. In that location are hundreds of these types of sites out in that location—it seems anyone with a modicum of coding power has gear up ane upwardly. Such sites easily go from useful to suspicious, especially if they go popular and the proprietor sells out to make cash off your visits.

Recommended by Our Editors

Since this story was first published, all the helper sites we recommended have been removed for reasons like adding sexually explicit ads, no longer working, switching to pushing its download utility simply, and one for going out of business organisation to avoid getting sued.

For that reason, nosotros're non recommending any helper sites at the moment. Endeavour one if you find information technology, but if your browser, antivirus, or instincts throw up warnings, avoid and move on.

Extensions

A browser extension tin can save you a pace. Still, you're going to run into some issues with downloading video from YouTube, particularly if you're using Chrome every bit your master browser.

The Chrome Web Store—where you become Chrome browser extensions—is controlled past YouTube's owner Alphabet/Google. Even an extension ostensibly for this purpose isn't going to let YouTube direct downloads, because of Chrome Shop restrictions. In general, with Chrome extensions, the download of whatever RTMP protocol video (protected videos) or streaming video isn't possible. You can use them on other sites with video, of class. Just not YouTube.

Desire to become around it? Get an extension that does non come from the Google Web Store. Some of the programs and helper sites offer an extension component and will spell out how to do the install without the assistance the Chrome Spider web Shop usually provides. Here are a couple.

YouTube Video Downloader

Free; Chrome, Opera, Edge, Vivaldi, UCBrowser

YouTube Video Downloader from Addoncrop is on multiple browsers only with excellent side-load capabilities. It puts a push button beneath whatever video you lot're playing on YouTube, or fifty-fifty an embedded YouTube video, making information technology piece of cake to catch. Supported video quality goes up to 8K. You tin also convert audio from the video to an MP3. It will even aid y'all take video screenshots.

Video DownloadHelper

Free; Firefox, Chrome, Border

Video DownloadHelper supports a huge number of sites—even those for adults. You'll know a video is downloadable when the icon for the extension animates when y'all're on the web page. Video DownloadHelper for Chrome has stopped working with YouTube; that fashion, information technology could get placement in the Chrome Web Shop. Get around that by using the Video DownloadHelper extension on Firefox or Border instead.

Mobile

Downloading from YouTube using an Android app from the Google Play Shop is a challenge, given that Google has a tight grip on the site it owns, and offers the paid YouTube Premium service that supports offline viewing.

That said, with Android, information technologyis possible to install apps without going through Google. For example, InsTube – Costless Video and Music Downloader for Android can only exist constitute at InsTube'south site. Download the APK (Android application package) file to sideload on an Android device. Find it in your device'due south downloads and click to install. (You may accept to go into your security settings and enable "Unknown sources.")

On iPhones and iPads, yous'd think in that location would be no such brake since Apple and Google aren't exactly the best of pals (or mayhap they are). However, on the iOS apps I have tried, not only wouldn't they download from YouTube, simply they're also typically not bachelor for long. One of those apps said in its description, "Downloading from YouTube is prohibited due to its Terms of Service." Apple tree is ensuring that app makers play by the rules—even Google's rules.

Chances are, the infinitesimal y'all find an iOS app that can download YouTube videos, information technology volition get "fixed" or banned. The only real pick is to jailbreak your iPhone and use sideloaded apps that download what you want.

There are workarounds. I is to subscribe to YouTube Premium; it lets you download video on your iPhone or iPad to picket later, much every bit Netflix and Hulu do.

Some other is using a free iOS file manager app similar Documents by Readdle. Use the Safari browser to visit a YouTube video, and use the Share option to find Copy Link. And so become back to Documents, and apply the built-in browser in the app to surf to a video download helper site. Paste the link into the form (hold your finger down on it until you get the "Paste" menu to pop up). The site will requite you the links to download, and you can salvage the file to Documents. Hold and drag the file up, until you're back on the main screen, and then drag it to the Photos folder. Y'all'll demand to give Documents permission to access Photos the first time. You can and then admission the video similar you would whatever video taken on the phone or tablet—in the Photos app.

Some other workaround: Go dorsum to the desktop and effort AnyTrans ($39.99 for a single computer for one year, Windows or macOS; $59.99 lifetime plan), a desktop file manager for iOS devices that has an integrated downloader supporting 900 sites, including YouTube and Facebook. It'll transfer the videos to the iPhone for you over the USB cablevision. Even if y'all don't pay for AnyTrans, the download selection remains and is complimentary forever.

YT Scribe

Want a truly unique style to "download" a video? YT Scribe lets yous catch the transcription then yous can read them instead. It auto-transcribes, punctuates, and paragraphs the text. The better the subtitles, the ameliorate the "article," of course. Best of all, information technology'south totally complimentary.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-download-youtube-videos

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