How to Download YouTube Videos
YouTube truly has billions of hours of video content. Furthermore, considering that the website has been the preferred option for publishing and viewing videos online since 2005, it is hardly the most startling fact about it. Nevertheless, there are moments when you simply must or truly want to have one of those videos on your phone or computer. However, there is a side issue that needs to be brought up when the matter of downloading YouTube videos comes up: Is it allowed?
If you are downloading a video for your own personal offline usage, you should be fine in terms of copyright. The terms of service for YouTube, as stated by Google, make things more clear-cut: “You are not allowed to…access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, licence, alter, modify, or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorised by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the respective rights holders.”
Google and YouTube video creators lose money when users watch their content offline via unlicensed channels. People make a living by running advertisements on YouTube.
Of course, downloading videos from YouTube is strictly forbidden. YouTube and the majority of other video websites make sharing videos simple, allowing you to embed them, email them, and share them on social media. For the most part, you just don’t need to download videos.
But you have justifications. Here’s how to download a YouTube video, if you really must, for personal use only. Don’t do it to share it or out of spite.
We developed certain guidelines for inclusion in order to keep this from becoming into a comprehensive list of applications and websites that can download YouTube videos. Services have to:
Work with Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube, the major three video websites.
Download channels or playlists in bulk from YouTube, if not in a paid version.
For audio, output to MP3 (or provide a companion piece of software that does).
Possess a user interface that works well.
gather no more personal information about you than your email address.
not include any malware. It’s out if there’s even a hint of it, not even a PUP.
As of the time of writing, all of the websites, services, and applications mentioned in this article are virus- and spam-free, but buyer beware. In particular
Downloads for YouTube Premium
Video downloads are now kind of available for users of YouTube Premium, the premium version of the site that lets you watch without advertisements. One thing about quality, though: You can only download videos that are at least 1080p in resolution. Absent 4K
The main problem is that you can’t actually download videos with this capability to keep them on your computer indefinitely. It is more similar to the download function of the Netflix and Hulu mobile applications, which allows you to store a streaming video to your local drive and watch it at a later time using just the app’s UI. This isn’t a method that lets you use other programmes, such Plex or VLC Media Player, to watch a video.
To access the download, navigate to the YouTube hamburger menu, click Downloads, and then review the list of items you’ve already downloaded. The site states that “Downloads remain available as long as your device has an active internet connection at least once every 30 days.” Most likely, this download isn’t exactly what you were hoping for; continue reading for other appropriate tools.
Desktop Programmes
The greatest control over downloading videos from the internet can be found using third-party applications. Usually, you just need to paste the URL of the desired YouTube video into the application, and it will download the best quality version it can locate. An MP4 file is typically used for videos in 1080p high definition (HD) format. The file format used for files with better resolution (4K or 8K) is usually MKV.
YouTube videos used to be Flash-based, so the file you downloaded was a FLV file, but those are typically more difficult to play back. Files in the MP4 (short for MPEG-4 Part 14) multimedia format are playable everywhere.
Keep in mind that an MKV file, also known as a Matroska, is merely a container; inside, it may hold video using any number of codecs. Using the VLC Media Player for Windows is the best and most reliable way to play them all because it plays anything. (See below for more information.) These are your best bets for downloaders.
