In this time of ubiquitous internet and abundance of content, downloading videos to your hard drive is rarely necessary. But sometimes, an important video can be hard to find, or can even be permanently removed from a platform, in which case it's not a bad idea to have a personal copy.
Say you've encountered a cool YouTube video and want to download it for your archive to make sure you still have it in case it disappears. YouTube has no easy 'download' button, so how do you download a video off the platform?
Fortunately, there are a few ways to grab a YouTube video fairly easily, and in good quality. However, before we continue, note that downloading videos from the regular, free version of YouTube is against the site's terms of service. And this brings another problem: Because of this, many of the ways to download YouTube videos that you'll find online are fairly dangerous as they're riddled with spamware and shady ads.
Get YouTube Premium
So we'll start with the simplest option: Buy YouTube Premium.
- Download All Video Downloader. Free and safe download. Download the latest version of the top software, games, programs and apps in 2021.
- Discover 4K Video Downloader Enjoy watching videos anywhere, any time, even when you are offline. Downloading is simple and straightforward: just copy the link from your browser and click 'Paste Link' in the application.
OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. What is the best computer to record music. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.
List Of Online Video Platform
One of the advantages of Premium subscription is that you get to download videos for offline viewing right there on YouTube itself. Another, very important advantage is that this way you're not breaching YouTube's terms of service.
There are plenty of downsides, too. An obvious one is that Premium costs money; $11.99 per month with a one-month free trial at writing time.
There are numerous other limitations as well: Downloading is only available on mobile devices, you can only view downloaded videos in YouTube's native app, you cannot move them anywhere, and they go away after your subscription runs out. Check out all of the details here.
Note that YouTube Premium is probably your best bet if you must download videos on your phone; there are third-party services that promise this functionality, but I haven't found one I'd comfortably install on my phone without fear of compromising safety.
4K video downloader
If you're a bit more serious about downloading videos off of YouTube and other services such as Vimeo and Facebook, you should consider getting the 4K Video Downloader app.
The app is available for macOS, Windows and Ubuntu Linux and offers a myriad of options beyond mere downloading of content. For example, you can save full playlists and channels from YouTube, you can schedule videos to be automatically downloaded from a YouTube channel, and you can save videos in a variety of video/audio formats (yes, even 4K or 8K videos).
Other features of note include extracting YouTube subtitles from videos and downloading 360-degree videos as well as 3D videos.
The process of downloading videos is simple and consists of copying the YouTube video's URL and pasting it into the 4K Video Downloader app.
The free version of the app contains ads and limits the number of playlists, channel and subtitles you can download. To get rid of those limitations, you can purchase the premium version of the app, which costs a one-time fee of $15. This grants you a license to use the software on three computers indefinitely.
Online services
The problem with online services that promise video downloading is that they don't last long. In fact, an earlier version of this article contained a list of 11 such services, most of which don't work anymore. More importantly, by visiting these sites you do potentially expose your computer to adware and malware, so tread very carefully.
That said, there's a couple of these services that have been around for a while and they're fairly reliable.
Probably the cleanest-looking among them is U2convert, which has a very simple UI, allowing you to paste a YouTube URL and download the video in two clicks. It does have some limitations, though: The free version will only allow you to download in the lowly 360p resolution. To be able to download higher-res videos you'll have to pay for the premium version of the service. Note that if you just click on the download button, the video may open in another window. To download it to your computer, you may have to right click it and choose 'Save link as.'
Another decent service is Keepvid.ch, offering a bit more in terms of quality for free. It does, however, constantly prompt you to download a desktop client called Vidus that offers more options. We haven't tried Vidus out and cannot vouch for its quality.
A parting note before you go: If you're only looking to download your own videos that you've uploaded to YouTube, that's easy to do.
Here's how to download your own YouTube videos:
Download Platform Tools
Get YouTube Premium
So we'll start with the simplest option: Buy YouTube Premium.
- Download All Video Downloader. Free and safe download. Download the latest version of the top software, games, programs and apps in 2021.
- Discover 4K Video Downloader Enjoy watching videos anywhere, any time, even when you are offline. Downloading is simple and straightforward: just copy the link from your browser and click 'Paste Link' in the application.
OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. What is the best computer to record music. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.
List Of Online Video Platform
One of the advantages of Premium subscription is that you get to download videos for offline viewing right there on YouTube itself. Another, very important advantage is that this way you're not breaching YouTube's terms of service.
There are plenty of downsides, too. An obvious one is that Premium costs money; $11.99 per month with a one-month free trial at writing time.
There are numerous other limitations as well: Downloading is only available on mobile devices, you can only view downloaded videos in YouTube's native app, you cannot move them anywhere, and they go away after your subscription runs out. Check out all of the details here.
Note that YouTube Premium is probably your best bet if you must download videos on your phone; there are third-party services that promise this functionality, but I haven't found one I'd comfortably install on my phone without fear of compromising safety.
4K video downloader
If you're a bit more serious about downloading videos off of YouTube and other services such as Vimeo and Facebook, you should consider getting the 4K Video Downloader app.
The app is available for macOS, Windows and Ubuntu Linux and offers a myriad of options beyond mere downloading of content. For example, you can save full playlists and channels from YouTube, you can schedule videos to be automatically downloaded from a YouTube channel, and you can save videos in a variety of video/audio formats (yes, even 4K or 8K videos).
Other features of note include extracting YouTube subtitles from videos and downloading 360-degree videos as well as 3D videos.
The process of downloading videos is simple and consists of copying the YouTube video's URL and pasting it into the 4K Video Downloader app.
The free version of the app contains ads and limits the number of playlists, channel and subtitles you can download. To get rid of those limitations, you can purchase the premium version of the app, which costs a one-time fee of $15. This grants you a license to use the software on three computers indefinitely.
Online services
The problem with online services that promise video downloading is that they don't last long. In fact, an earlier version of this article contained a list of 11 such services, most of which don't work anymore. More importantly, by visiting these sites you do potentially expose your computer to adware and malware, so tread very carefully.
That said, there's a couple of these services that have been around for a while and they're fairly reliable.
Probably the cleanest-looking among them is U2convert, which has a very simple UI, allowing you to paste a YouTube URL and download the video in two clicks. It does have some limitations, though: The free version will only allow you to download in the lowly 360p resolution. To be able to download higher-res videos you'll have to pay for the premium version of the service. Note that if you just click on the download button, the video may open in another window. To download it to your computer, you may have to right click it and choose 'Save link as.'
Another decent service is Keepvid.ch, offering a bit more in terms of quality for free. It does, however, constantly prompt you to download a desktop client called Vidus that offers more options. We haven't tried Vidus out and cannot vouch for its quality.
A parting note before you go: If you're only looking to download your own videos that you've uploaded to YouTube, that's easy to do.
Here's how to download your own YouTube videos:
Download Platform Tools
Click on your profile pic in YouTube's upper right corner
Choose studio
There you'll be able to download each one of your videos from the three dot menu next to them
The popularity of video streaming channels has, in many respects, eclipsed TV. Far evolved from the dial-up days when trying to watch video was a hit-and-miss business, increased remote access through a variety of devices means a vast choice of options depending on subject matter or interest, and the most popular video streaming website have seen a huge increase in viewing figures. For those viewing and posting content, there is also a great choice of video software available. As an increasing number of viewers turn to video streaming such as YouTube as their portal of choice for watching and posting home-generated content, posts are becoming increasingly professional due to the availability of editing software.
Editing video files to include extra details such as fade effects or subtitles no longer requires a studio editing suite; preview your video with VideoSpirit Pro Editor, and then join it with other clips once your effects are complete. Soft32's free video editing software allows you to try some great software for free and see the amazing effects on your video files.
For advanced real-time preview of your video files, and DVD authoring, Adobe's long-standing Premiere Pro continues to set the standard for functional video editing. Ideal for professionals or laptop-based users seeking to develop their skills in video production and editing, the suite includes audio tools to compliment your video production.
For those who wish to take advantage of great radio and TV content online – listen and remotely watch tv on computer from a list of thousands of digital stations, free download Readon TV Movie Radio Player will receive literally thousands of channels and maintain super reception while browsing other windows. What's more it offers a video recording facility in many different formats. Supporting conversion of files from one format to another, or repairing damaged files, multifunctional media and video converter Format Factory will convert anything from DVD to MP4 mobile files to any functional format.
Video Downloader
In the past, the post-production and sequencing of clips for specialist productions such as training videos used to be the job of professional companies, but sharing useful training materials can now be achieved in-house with Camtasia, using flexible recording to mix video with spoken word voiceovers, tutorials and PowerPoint presentations, for professional results. Camtasia also allows you to share the completed content with channels such as YouTube.
Youtube Video Download
Soft32 is your first choice for sourcing TV and media players, and all popular video software downloads for Windows. All submissions are checked for viruses and other malware before release, to ensure 100% dependability.
