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How To Download YouTube Videos For Free: Save Videos The Easy Way

Downloading YouTube videos is simple, and there are loads of incentives to give it a try. For instance.
It lets you view Download YouTube videos without an internet connection, which is perfect for keeping yourself occupied on planes, trains, and excursions to places without secure internet access.
Download YouTube videos is likewise excellent if you possess a mobile plan with an insufficient data allowance.
You could download YouTube videos to your phone using your home Wi-Fi, and view them on the move without jeopardising going over your data allocation.
Best of all, you can do it free. YouTube itself presents some free tools for the job (on both mobile and desktop).
➤ You Might Like To Read: The 8 Best Free Video Editing Software | Free Video Editors For All Your Projects
There are third-party free YouTube downloaders that you can utilise as well to Download YouTube videos. Browse on to discover how.
If you only need to save music from videos or remove out the audio to turn it into a podcast, check out our guide to the best free video editing software for Windows and the best YouTube to MP3 converters, macOS and Linux.
Is Downloading YouTube Videos Legal?

Employing third-party apps to download YouTube videos amounts to going against Youtube’s terms of service – which declare that you are only authorised to stream videos straight from its servers.
Downloading YouTube videos also present you up to possible copyright infringement saving you have permission from the copyright owner, it’s in the public domain, or you control the video yourself.
➤ You Might Like To Read: How To Download YouTube Videos On iPhone And Android
That said, YouTube does propose some ways to Download YouTube videos within its web service and its own apps.
In this guide, we’ll describe how to do Download YouTube videos, and lead you through the other alternatives available for Mac, iPhone, Android, and PC.
Best YouTube Downloader
WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe
The best YouTube downloader right now is WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe. Out of all the YouTube downloaders that we’ve examined, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe is the most powerful.
It doesn’t just grasp videos – it can additionally convert them into practically any format, cuts content from DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and allows you to burn your own.
It manages 4K content with comfort, too. It’s not free, unlike the software below, but you won’t encounter a more compelling tool.
Adobe Premiere Elements
Edit Your YouTube Videos With Adobe Premiere Elements.
If you’re unrestricted to spending some cash on your video editing software, you’ll notice the quality of your videos growing massively.
With more extra features, filters and wizards accessible to you, you’ll be capable of Download YouTube videos and doing things with your video that are well past what you get from any free alternatives.
Download YouTube Videos To A Windows Pc
4K Video Downloader

Get 4K Video Downloader
To begin downloading YouTube videos to a Windows PC, commence by downloading and installing 4K Video Downloader.
This versatile ingenious software is absolutely free and can download complete playlists, as well as 360-degree and 3D videos.

When it’s done, mark the box labelled ‘Launch’ and tick ‘Finish’.
Paste video URL inside 4K Video Downloader. After you’ve copied the video’s URL from your browser, tick the green ‘Paste’ button in 4K Video Downloader.
Copy and Paste the Video URL
Open your web browser, locate the video you want to download from YouTube and duplicate its URL from the address bar.
Then return to 4K Video Downloader and click on the green ‘Paste Link’ button at the top left.
The software will recover information regarding the video and give you a variety of quality options.

These will differ and depend on the quality of the primary video, but the software can download YouTube videos in 4K if it’s available.
Determine the video quality and format. The Download YouTube videos alternatives will vary depending on the quality of the primary video on YouTube.
Choose the Quality and Format
4K Video Downloader shall permit you to download whole YouTube videos, or split the audio.
Choose your favoured selection utilising the drop-down menu on the left, then pick a format using the menu on the right.
We favour MP4 for our videos because it gives a good balance of quality and file size – and will perform on every device and platform.
Then, determine your quality. For playing video on your TV or PC, we advocate picking the highest resolution, but sustain in mind that this will take long-drawn and will take up more space.

Fortunately, you can check the expected file size on the left to see how much space it will demand.
You can also determine where the downloaded video should be saved using the ‘Browse’ button at the bottom. Once you’re satisfied, click ‘Download’.
Download a whole YouTube channel. When you download a specific video, 4K Video Downloader will provide you with the option of downloading the whole channel.
Download the YouTube Video
The YouTube video will promptly be downloaded for you. If there are additional videos in the creator’s channel, 4K Video Downloader will inquire whether you need to download those as well.
It can easily download YouTube videos up to 24 videos at one go.
Once the video has completed downloading, you can discover it in the destination folder, or right-click it in 4K Video Downloader and choose ‘Play’.

Unless you alter the settings, the video will stay in this list till you decide to remove it – even if you stop and restart the software.
Set the Smart Mode to download YouTube videos with one snap. With the Smart Mode, you can download YouTube Videos with a single click.
It protects your settings, so you don’t have to re-enter them each time you download YouTube videos.
Try Smart Mode
If you frequently download videos in the same format, check out Smart Mode.
This preserves your download preferences and loads them automatically.

Click on the lightbulb icon positioned at the top right and subsequent time you paste a URL into 4K Video Downloader; it will be downloaded immediately with the previous settings you applied.
Download YouTube Videos To An Android Device
TubeMate
To download YouTube videos you can’t download TubeMate from the Google Play Store, so you’ll need to download the APK
Install TubeMate
TubeMate is one of the most common devices to download YouTube videos on Android smartphones, and with excellent reason: it’s really simple to use and has the characteristics you require without any bells and whistles.
The TubeMate video downloader isn’t open on the Google Play Store (Google isn’t too intense on YouTube downloaders), so, you’ll require to allow your Android gadget to install and run apps downloaded from different places.

Be careful when you switch on this setting, as you’ll require to ensure you exclusively download apps you know are secure.
Initiate up ‘Settings’ and go to ‘Security’. Scroll down and close to where it says ‘Unknown sources’, hit the toggle to alter this setting to on.
Now, from your Android device, go to the TubeMate YouTube Downloader website and choose one of the tested sites to download it from.
Choose A Video to Download
You might see a notification message about downloading APK files, so tick ‘OK’ to enable it. Once TubeMate downloads, run the file and hit ‘Install’, then hit ‘Open’.

You’ll then be informed which sanctions the video downloader requires to run. If you’re satisfied to advance, let it go ahead, and the app will start.
Pick a video to download using TubeMate. It resembles much like the official YouTube app. Seek for the video you want and start playing.
Then hit the red ‘Download’ button that emerges at the bottom right.
Download the Video
The next item you’ll notice is a list of formats. You’ll notice video and audio formats and various quality and resolution alternatives for each.
If you possess a high-end device then, by all means, download the highest possible degree versions, but bear in mind that higher the resolution, the larger the file.
If your mobile or tablet doesn’t possess much free space, YouTube videos will quickly fill it up.
When you’re satisfied, hit the red ‘Download’ button repeatedly. The video shall download in the background, so you can continue using your phone as standard – though downloading videos utilises a lot of power and might make your battery drain down faster.
You can additionally attach YouTube videos to a queue to download later.
This comes in handy if you’re currently employing 4G and want to wait till you have Wi-Fi before downloading any huge files.
Download YouTube Videos To An iPhone
The method of downloading YouTube clips is very somewhat different, depending on which Apple OS you’re on.
If you’re handling iOS on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, then you’ll require our first method, and if you’re handling OS X or MacOS on a Mac you’ll require the second.
On iOS, the skill is to install a smart little app termed Documents. It’s basically a file manager, but it also happens to be capable of downloading YouTube clips too. The method is a little fiddly but still easy.

First of all, obtain the clip you require to download in the YouTube app for iOS or in Safari.
Once you’ve discovered it, hit the ‘Share’ icon and later ‘Copy Link’.
Open Documents and search for its web browser icon, which is the small compass at the bottom right of the display. Hit on that and proceed to savefrom.net.
Affix the address of the YouTube clip in the large input box, determine the quality options you favour and the file will begin to download.
When it’s completed it’ll appear in Documents’ downloads region, from which you can move it over ‘Photos > Camera Roll’ so it’s accessible from outside the Documents5 app.
Download YouTube Videos To A Mac
On a Mac, there are heaps of options, but one of the most simple is MacX YouTube Downloader (also accessible for Windows).

Your ONLY require to attach the link and determine the quality options, and you can download multiple clips at one go.
Read on to discover more about video formats and quality settings when downloading YouTube videos.
Video Formats and Quality Settings
Should I Download Videos With YouTube Premium Only?
If you possess a YouTube Premium subscription, you’ll appreciate various perks, including the capacity to download videos to view offline without third-party software.
You can do this employing the YouTube, YouTube Music and YouTube gaming apps.
Bear in mind that you can only view the downloaded videos utilising the app – you can’t transfer the video file to a different gadget, or view it with a separate player.
Start viewing a video, then hit the ‘Download’ button (a grey arrow) below the player and determine a quality setting.
Once the video has downloaded from YouTube fortuitously, you can locate it in your Library or Account tab.
It would help if you were signed into your account to view downloaded videos. You can’t acknowledge videos with comments or likes when viewing them offline.
What Formats Can I Download YouTube Videos In?

Video downloading apps normally give you a choice of file formats.
The most popular are MP4, 3GP, AVI and MOV; the selection of format and quality settings will influence what you can view your video on, and how beneficial the video will be.
If you’re not too fussed regarding video quality, 3GP is the file format for you.
It’s ideal for small-screened mobile phones and terrible on anything else.
However, the files are small – which matters on old mobiles, as they don’t normally have very much on-board storage or any memory extension capabilities.
For more devices, MOV is Apple’s video format. It works on every Mac, AVI was developed by Microsoft and works happily on PCs BUT plays as an audio file on Facebook video upload and in many video editors like Movavi.
MP4 is the video equivalent of MP3 (audio) and works on pretty much anything. For maximum compatibility, we’d suggest sticking with MP4 which is a globally accepted format for all sorts of software and platforms.
How About Video Quality?
The subsequent decision you’ll require to make is video quality. If you’re downloading via assistance such as ClipConverter – a method explained on the previous page of this article, you’ll be offered a selection of video sources.
That’s because of YouTube streams in various qualities ranging from 3GP for old mobiles to 1080p high definition for roaring HD displays.
3GP aside, you hold four options here for your smartphone, laptop, computer, or tablet: 360p, 480p, 720p and 1080p.
Higher the quality, the heavier the file will be, so the skill is to balance size and the quality together: unless you’re viewing on a really big screen, you can reasonably manage without 1080p quality unless you’ve got heaps of spare storage (although 360p video won’t look great on an HD display).
Unless you have extensive storage capacity, the trade-off normally means obtaining the lowest video quality that you can endure on the display you’ll be viewing the video on.
If the video you’re downloading contains music, it doesn’t matter what video quality you prefer – the soundtrack has the equivalent bitrate even if you go for a 480p video or a 1080p one.
It is because YouTube’s audio and video streams are two separate entities, so modifying the video quality doesn’t make any variance to the property of the soundtrack.