How to Download YouTube Videos for Free and Two Other Ways

Basic YouTube only allows you to download a few videos in selected locations, but there is always a way to download any YouTube video you want.

again: Follow ZDNET on YouTube.

We’ll show you how to download your favorite videos in three ways:

1. Paying for YouTube Premium
2. Use free Mac, Windows, or Linux applications
3. Use arcane and complex (but very powerful) Linux command line tools

Paid option: YouTube Premium

i’m a big fan YouTube Premium because it is Saves my wife and me having to endure most of the ads, but a luxury expense. Individuals can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $11.99/month. YouTube also offers a family plan for up to 6 users for $22.99 per month. Finally, students can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $6.99/month.

My favorite feature is the complete absence of Google-provided ads. No banners, pre-rolls or interstitials. However, if a YouTube channel wants to embed ads in their videos, YouTube Premium will not filter those YouTuber-embedded ads.

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YouTube Premium gives you access to background playback and picture-in-picture, YouTube Music, and YouTube Originals.

YouTube Premium also includes the following features download video. Here’s how:

How to download YouTube videos via YouTube Premium

save after download

It doesn’t provide an easy way to convert your downloads into video files that you can use on your desktop device, so if you want to use the video for something other than offline viewing, you’re a bit out of luck. The same is true for iOS.

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However, if you are an Android user with an SD card slot on your phone, you can set up the YouTube app (tap your profile picture, tap settingafter that download) to save the video to the SD card.

That’s how you download videos to a barely usable format for the low price of $11.99/month. But what if you want a better solution and want it for free?

A free option (and my preferred method) for downloading YouTube videos: ClipGrab

Props to the editor-in-chief of ZDNET for introducing me to this program a few years ago. I have been using it ever since.

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clip grab is a free program available for Mac, Windows, and Linux users. The developer says it’s open source, but the source code is only available for Linux. Either way, ClipGrab is great. Here’s how to download and use it.

1. Go to ClipGrab.org

Point your browser to ClipGrab.org and, View all Downloads Optional link. There you will find download links for Mac, Windows and Linux. This article will focus on the Mac version, but all three have nearly identical interfaces.

2. Copy the YouTube video link.

Copy the video link of the YouTube video you want to download. You can do this in your browser’s URL bar, or share A button below the video itself.

3. Launch ClipGrab

make sure you are at download Click the tab, then Launch ClipGrab option.

4. Copy and paste

Copy the URL of the video you want to download and paste it into ClickGrab.

5. Click Get this clip!

Once you have copied the desired video link and pasted it into the ClickGrab browser, Grab this clip!

6. Choose a video format

ClickGrab also allows you to adjust options.

For example, you can choose the format in which the video is saved to your computer. I usually use Original , but if that doesn’t work, specify something else.

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You can also choose the download resolution. Depending on the original resolution of the video, you can choose to download the full resolution video or reduce the resolution to save space.

7. Customization

lastly, setting The tab allows you to customize where ClipGrab saves newly downloaded videos.

Linux command line options

I would have been careless if I didn’t mention that Linux users have a command line option to download (because of course there is a command line option) (see comments below, Twitter, email inbox so was told). youtube videos. As with the Linux command line in general, there are some gray areas as to whether this tool will work and whether there are better tools.

The first in this command line hit parade is youtube-dl. can be accessed via my site, on GitHubor your favorite package manager.

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The GitHub repository was temporarily removed due to allegations of DMCA violations, but was later reinstated by GitHub.very interesting to read Story About GitHub’s reason and response.

Some people claim that youtube-dl is old and hasn’t been updated in a while. There is another open source project on GitHub called . yt-dlp, which claims to be a fork of youtube-dl with more features. I haven’t tested it, so use at your own risk.

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Both youtube-dl and yt-dlp offer a very wide range of features for your needs. Personally, I don’t have time to make YouTube downloads my second or third full-time job, so I’ll stick with ClipGrab. But it’s up to you.

What happened to SaveFrom.net?

You may be familiar with a site called SaveFrom.net. The site allowed me to download from YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion (and a few other sites) by simply pasting the URL into a web page on the site. There was also a browser extension that facilitated the download. However, as I will highlight on this topic in the next section, SaveFrom.net has ceased operations in the US and UK, stating from the UK (and US counterparts):

But one brave editor (not me) VPN A trip to the Czech Republic found SaveFrom.net alive and well, far from copyright law.

Speaking of copyright law…

Moral, Ethical and Legal Considerations

Now you know how to download YouTube videos, right? First, be aware that different jurisdictions have different laws. It may or may not be legal to download certain videos, even if you just want to watch them offline.

If you decide to download a video and incorporate it into something you’re making, keep in mind that some countries have fair use concepts. These jurisdictions allow you to incorporate small clips of copyrighted media into your work. However, keep in mind that YouTube has an algorithmic system that looks for users who reuse videos, and your channel may get a strike for reusing media.

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When in doubt, it’s always best to ask.

Well then, please. Are there other techniques to achieve the same? Let us know in the comments below.

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