There are billions of hours of video on YouTube. Literally. And that'due south hardly the near astounding statistic almost the site, which has been the go-to destination for uploading and watching video since 2005. That said, sometimes, yous really want or demand to have one of those videos on your ain estimator or phone. But when the topic of downloading YouTube videos comes upwards, there's a side field of study that must be broached: Is it legal?

On the copyright front end, every bit long as you're downloading a video for your own personal offline apply, you're probably okay. It'due south more black and white when you consider Google's terms of service for YouTube, which read: "You are non allowed to...access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, modify, modify 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 respective rights holders."

Watching YouTube videos offline through unofficial channels takes coin from Google and video creators. There's a reason YouTube runs ads: People brand a living this style.

Obviously, stealing videos from YouTube is a big no-no. If you want to share a video, YouTube and nigh other video sites go far easy, from embedding to emailing to sharing via social networks. You simply do not need to download a video near of the fourth dimension.

However, you have your reasons. If you must download a YouTube video—admittedly need to, just for yourself, and not for dissemination, and non to be a total douche-nozzle—here's how.

Note: This story is updated frequently equally the tools involved change regularly. Some of those changes are not always pleasant, such every bit software so full of "extras," it gets flagged as malware by antivirus tools. The aforementioned goes for the helper websites—a change in a site'south advert network tin too create issues with malware.

To prevent this from condign a laundry listing of programs and sites that tin can download YouTube videos, nosotros came upwards with a few rules for inclusion. Services must:

Back up 4K downloads even in the free version.
Work with elevation three 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 offering companion software that does so).
Take an interface thatdoesn't suck.
Non collect your personal information beyond your email accost.
Not contain malware. If at that place's even a whiff of it in the air, even a PUP, information technology's out.

The programs, services, and sites in this story are all free of spam/virus/problems every bit of this writing, simply caveat emptor. Big time. Specially if yous're not actually emptor-ing.

YouTube Premium Downloads

Now available for subscribers of YouTube Premium—the paid version of YouTube that allows you to lookout man without ads—are video downloads. Kind of. At that place'south ane caveat with quality: All the video you download is limited to 1080p quality max, or lower. No 4K.

The biggest issue is, this feature doesn't actually download a video to save on your reckoner forever. It is more akin to the download feature 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'due south interface only. This is not a method that allows you to, say, spotter a video using different software such every bit the VLC Media Thespian.

You access the download by going to the YouTube hamburger menu and selecting Downloads to view the list of what yous've grabbed. The page says "Downloads remain available equally long equally your device has an agile internet connection at least once every 30 days." This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for in a download. But the tools below deliver exactly that.

Desktop Software

3rd-party software is where you will go the best control over downloading online videos. Typically, you paste the URL for the YouTube video you desire into the program, and information technology downloads the highest quality version information technology tin find. For videos in 1080p Loftier Definition (Hard disk drive) format, that's usually an MP4 file. For anything higher 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, but those tend to be harder to play back. MP4 (curt for MPEG-4 Function 14 multimedia format) plays everywhere

Annotation that the MKV file, likewise chosen a Matroska, is a container—the file could contain video utilizing whatsoever number of codecs inside. The fool-proof way to play them all is to employ the VLC Media Histrion for Windows, which plays everything. (Read more near information technology below.) Every bit for the downloaders, here are the best options.

VLC Media Player

Free; Windows, macOS, Linux

We mention VLC Media Thespian above because information technology's a fantastic tool for Windows, Mac, and Linux users that plays back only about any media ever created. It likewise has the ability to download YouTube videos, admitting in a convoluted style. (If you meet whatsoever bug, try a full re-install of VLC and clear your enshroud to make information technology work.)

Copy a URL from a YouTube video, then open up VLC. From the Media card, select Open up Network Stream (Ctrl+N) and paste in the URL. Click Play. When the video is playing, become to Tools > Codec Information. At that place is a box at the bottom called "Source"—re-create the URL you notice in that box.

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

Yet, information technology appears that VLC is but going to save your file equally 1080p and not any college, even if the original YouTube stream was available in 1440p or 2160p (aka 4K). It too won't convert video to other formats. To become those options, you demand the desktop software below.

4K Video Downloader

Gratis 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 plan's website; no advertisement traps here. The software does what it advertises in a simple interface. It grabs videos upwards to 8K in quality and downloads to plenty of formats. Simply copy a YouTube URL and click the Paste Link push to get started. 4KVD will even grab subtitles, entire playlists, and all the videos in a channel to which you subscribe. The sites supported are limited to the big names similar YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and a few others, but that covers nigh of what you need. Information technology does display a large banner advertisement to keep the lights on and you're limited to xxx downloads a day on the free version.

I had to make a switch from MP4 to MKV format to get my test video to download in 4K. 4KVD snagged the 3-minute, 229.7MB file for the movie trailer in about one infinitesimal and 20 seconds. 4KVD defaults back to 1080p Hard disk, then I made the same switch when downloading an Ultra High Definition (8K) playlist.

If you enable the Smart Mode and its presets, 4KVD tin perform ane-click downloads to your favorite format. If y'all want to download more than 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 Histrion was flawless.

The plan itself has an choice to extract audio to MP3 format, and so yous don't fifty-fifty need the 4K YouTube to MP3 companion software.

VideoProc Converter

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

The powerful VideoProc from Digiarty comes in an editor edition and this converter, which too provides editing and effects. The downloading aspect is great, a version like to Digiarty's WinX YouTube Downloader, which y'all can still find simply is not promoted by the company these days. This makes sense, as 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 often offers cost discounts.

To use it, you open the software, let it notice your hardware to see what you accept to assist with acceleration (if anything). Click the Downloader button, click Add video to place as many URLs as you want to batch, then Download Now. Or yous can get a whole YouTube playlist or live stream. It grabbed our 697MB test 4K video to WEBM format in about ii 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-year license $44.99 plus taxation (or $9.99 for Free YouTube Download); Windows

Like some others, FlixGrab has several different programs bachelor, many with overlapping features. For example, information technology has FlixGrabMS (a version you become from the Microsoft Store to run on Windows 10/xi)—merely information technology wouldn't allow me grab video from YouTube. The directly download of the FlixGrab programme from the flixgrabapp.com site did piece of work with YouTube and several other sites,. Plus it offers a Costless YouTube Download that is specific to YouTube, withal uses the same easy-to-use interface. The downside, equally with others, is the loftier subscription price, but information technology'southward the merely mode to get high-quality downloads. The YouTube-just version is essentially cheaper at $nine.99 per year, however. Neither comes with a trial menstruum.

5KPlayer

Costless; Windows and macOS

The gratis 5KPlayer is a lot more than than a downloader, merely it's got a heck of an integrated downloader. Promising no viruses, ads, or plug-in requirements is a good start. Information technology is, sadly, one of the few tested that asks for a registration of your name and email—y'all have to do that to get the full download function across 300+ sites. Nevertheless, you can yet nab 4K vids from YouTube without registering.

When downloading, the program does try to hide some things. Paste in the URL for a YouTube video and the analysis engine runs and shows just a few download options. Click the gear icon, then the Evidence All button, and scroll to encounter more—like a 4K 3,840-by-2,160 file in WebM format. The 227MB WebM exam download took an agonizing 6.5 minutes. Grabbing playlists was possible, merely yous must accommodate download settings i video at a time. The disruptive interface makes it hard to go dorsum to the other videos in the playlist.

5K Player likewise features DLNA server playback and then videos you grab can be 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 like playing back the overly large 4K file, though, and experienced buffering problems (VLC didn't have any problem with the same file).

Ultimately, there's a lot to like most 5K Player, from the price to the features, particularly if y'all look at them equally extras on a downloader. But the bad interface, tiresome download speeds, and playback issues may have y'all looking elsewhere.

Helper Websites

Do you lot want to avoid installing software? Video download helper sites are supposed to exercise the download work for you lot. All of them practice one bones matter: You give them a YouTube URL (or another video site, if supported), they parse it, requite you a choice of what size download yous desire, and provide a link to said download. They work on any platform, sometimes even on mobile devices. You don't have to install anything on your PC. It can have a lot longer, depending on the size and quality of the video you want, but you can't shell the convenience.

The problem is, y'all can't always trust them. There are hundreds of these types of sites out there—it seems anyone with a modicum of coding power has gear up one upwards. Such sites easily get from useful to suspicious, especially if they get popular and the proprietor sells out to brand cash off your visits.

Recommended by Our Editors

Since this story was kickoff published, all the helper sites nosotros recommended have been removed for reasons similar adding sexually explicit ads, no longer working, switching to pushing its download utility but, and one for going out of business organization to avoid getting sued.

For that reason, we're non recommending any helper sites at the moment. Try one if yous find it, but if your browser, antivirus, or instincts throw upwards warnings, avert and movement on.

Extensions

A browser extension can save you a step. However, yous're going to run into some problems with downloading video from YouTube, peculiarly if you're using Chrome as your principal browser.

The Chrome Spider web Shop—where you get Chrome browser extensions—is controlled past YouTube's possessor Alphabet/Google. Even an extension ostensibly for this purpose isn't going to allow YouTube straight downloads, because of Chrome Store 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 grade. But not YouTube.

Desire to get around information technology? Go an extension that does not come up from the Google Web Store. Some of the programs and helper sites offering an extension component and will spell out how to do the install without the assistance the Chrome Spider web Store usually provides. Hither are a couple.

YouTube Video Downloader

Costless; Chrome, Opera, Edge, Vivaldi, UCBrowser

YouTube Video Downloader from Addoncrop is on multiple browsers but with first-class side-load capabilities. It puts a push beneath whatever video you're playing on YouTube, or even an embedded YouTube video, making it easy to grab. Supported video quality goes up to 8K. You lot tin can also convert sound from the video to an MP3. It volition fifty-fifty help yous 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 you lot're on the web page. Video DownloadHelper for Chrome has stopped working with YouTube; that manner, information technology could go placement in the Chrome Web Shop. Get effectually that by using the Video DownloadHelper extension on Firefox or Edge instead.

Mobile

Downloading from YouTube using an Android app from the Google Play Store 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, itis possible to install apps without going through Google. For instance, InsTube – Free Video and Music Downloader for Android can just exist establish at InsTube's site. Download the APK (Android application package) file to sideload on an Android device. Find it in your device's downloads and click to install. (Yous may take to go into your security settings and enable "Unknown sources.")

(Instube)

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

Chances are, the minute you detect an iOS app that can download YouTube videos, it will get "fixed" or banned. The only real option is to jailbreak your iPhone and use sideloaded apps that download what you want.

At that place are workarounds. I is to subscribe to YouTube Premium; it lets you download video on your iPhone or iPad to watch later, much as Netflix and Hulu practice.

Some other is using a free iOS file director app like Documents by Readdle. Use the Safari browser to visit a YouTube video, and utilise the Share option to find Copy Link. Then go back to Documents, and utilize the built-in browser in the app to surf to a video download helper site. Paste the link into the course (hold your finger down on it until you lot get the "Paste" menu to pop upwards). The site will give yous the links to download, and you tin salve the file to Documents. Hold and elevate the file up, until you're dorsum on the chief screen, and so drag it to the Photos folder. You'll need to give Documents permission to access Photos the commencement fourth dimension. You lot tin can and then access the video like you lot would whatsoever video taken on the telephone or tablet—in the Photos app.

Another workaround: Get dorsum to the desktop and try AnyTrans ($39.99 for a single calculator for one year, Windows or macOS), a desktop file managing director 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 you don't pay for AnyTrans, the download option remains and is free forever.

YT Scribe

Desire a truly unique way to "download" a video? YT Scribe lets you grab the transcription so yous can read them instead. Information technology auto-transcribes, punctuates, and paragraphs the text. The amend the subtitles, the better the "article," of course. All-time of all, it's totally free.

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