How to Download YouTube Videos?
Download and convert YouTube videos for personal offline use
Last updated: 15/06/2019
Contents
- Why Would You Want to Download YouTube Videos?
- How to Download a YouTube Video or Playlist?
- Download a YouTube Video Using the Link of the Video or Playlist
- Download a YouTube Video on Windows or macOS
- Download YouTube Videos on Android
- How to Listen to a YouTube Video?
- How to Download a YouTube Video in the Highest Quality?
Why Would You Want to Download YouTube Videos?
YouTube videos are meant to be watched on YouTube only, but sometimes you might have a valid reason to download the videos, for example:
- To avoid video streaming issues on slow internet connections
- To watch a video in places without internet connections
- To watch a video on another device that is not connected to the internet
- To keep a copy of a video that might be removed later from YouTube
- And many other valid reasons...
But first before downloading any videos from YouTube, you should know that you will be breaking YouTube's terms of service in doing so, it's clearly stated under section 5 Your Use of Content :
You shall not download any Content unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content.
So if you don't have a valid reason to download YouTube videos then it's best to not do so and keep watching the videos on YouTube only.
How to Download a YouTube Video or Playlist?
There are many programs to save YouTube videos, some of of these programs must be installed on your device, usually these programs are different for each operating system like Windows, macOS, Android and others, an easier way is to use an online service to help you download the videos, SaveTheVideo.com is one of these services which doesn't require any software installation that makes it possible be used on any device, below we list multiple methods to download YouTube videos to your device using SaveTheVideo.com .
Download a YouTube Video Using the Link of the Video or Playlist
You can simply copy the video link (URL) from the address bar of your browser and follow these steps:
- Go to SaveTheVideo.com
- Paste the video or playlist link in the input field
- Click on the Download or Convert buttons
- You will be redirected to the download page where you can download or convert the video
Download a YouTube Video on Windows or macOS
To download a YouTube video or playlist on Windows or macOS while on YouTube:
- Change the word youtube.com to savethevideo.com in the address bar of your browser
- Click enter and you'll be taken to SaveTheVideo.com
- The link of the YouTube page you were browsing will be automatically filled in the input field
- Click on the Download or Convert buttons to continue
Or you can use our bookmarklet and while watching a YouTube video you can click on the bookmark to access SaveTheVideo.com and download or convert the video you were watching.
To install our bookmarklet simply drag and drop this button to your bookmarks bar.
When you click this bookmark it will open SaveTheVideo.com with the link of the video you were watching so you download or convert the video.
Download YouTube Videos on Android
On Android you can download YouTube videos by sharing them to this web application:
- First install this web app on your Android device by clicking on " Install App " or " Add to Home Screen "
- Open the YouTube app and find a video or playlist that you want to download
- Share the video or playlist from the YouTube app to SaveTheVideo app
- Then you can download the video or playlist videos to your Android device
This is not limited to YouTube, you can share content from any other application like Twitter or Facebook to download the videos to your device.
How to Listen to a YouTube Video?
Sometimes you want to listen to a YouTube video only without watching it, it could be a podcast, a talk, or any other video content that you might want to listen to only, in this case you can convert the video on YouTube to MP3 or any other audio format, but converting to the MP3 format is the most popular because of the wide support of MP3 on almost any media player, smartphone, TV, tablet and many other devices.
- Paste the link of the YouTube video or playlist in the input field on SaveTheVideo.com
- Click on the Convert button
- You will be redirected to the convert page, if it's a playlist then the videos will be listed for you to choose from
- Select the MP3 format or any other audio format (M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG Vorbis)
- If you would like to change the audio quality you can do so or just keep the default value
- Click on the Convert button and wait until the conversion is complete
- Save the file to your device by clicking on the Download button
How to Download a YouTube Video in the Highest Quality?
YouTube serves the highest quality video and audio formats separated, in this case if you download the highest quality video directly it's going to be without audio, but on SaveTheVideo.com you can merge the video and audio formats together to download the highest quality video from YouTube (720p, 1080p, 4K):
- On the video download page if you can see a " Best Quality Video " section then you can click on the download button that will merge the best video and audio formats for you
- Or you can click on the Merge Formats tab to select the video and audio formats to merge, and once complete you will be able to download the file