Watching YouTube videos offline through unofficial channels takes money from Google and video creators. There’s a reason YouTube runs ads: people make a living this way.

 

Obviously, stealing videos from YouTube is a big no-no. If you want to share a video, YouTube and most other video sites make it easy, from embedding to emailing to sharing via social networks. You simply do not need to download a video most of the time.

You, on the other hand, have your reasons. If you absolutely must download a YouTube video for yourself, not for distribution, and not to be a total douche-nozzle, here’s how.

Note: This story is updated on a regular basis as the tools used change. Some of these modifications aren’t necessarily pleasant, such as software that has so many “extras” that antivirus software flags it as malware. The same is true for helper websites: a change in a site’s ad network might lead to malware difficulties.

We came up with a few conditions for inclusion to keep this from becoming a laundry list of apps and sites that can download YouTube videos. Services must include the following:

• Support 4K downloads even in the free version.
• Work with top three video sites: YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo.
• Download entire playlists or channels in a batch (on YouTube), at least with a paid version.
• Output to MP3 for audio (or offer companion software that does so).
• Have an interface that doesn’t suck.
• Not collect your personal data beyond your email address.
• Not contain malware. If there’s even a whiff of it in the air, even a PUP, it’s out.

As of this writing, all of the apps, services, and websites mentioned in this narrative are free of spam/virus/problems, but caveat emptor. In a big way. Particularly if you aren’t truly emptor-ing.

YouTube Premium Downloads

Subscribers to YouTube Premium now have access to a brand new (as of September 2021) function. This is the premium version of YouTube that allows you to watch videos without being interrupted by advertisements. It now allows you to download videos. In a way.

There are some major caveats.

• This is considered an experimental feature. Google only plans to make it available officially until October 19, 2021. So you’ve got less than a month to try it. Who knows if YouTube will make it permanent.
• All the video you download is limited to 1080p quality max, or lower. No 4K.
• You can only try one experimental feature at a time (so you can’t have this feature active along with the new trial of “picture-in-a-picture on iOS.”)
• On your first download—initiated by clicking the Download link under a video you see in Chrome, Edge, or Opera on the desktop—the service will try to get you to download the YouTube desktop app, which is free and optional.

However, the most important limitation is that this capability does not actually download a video to save on your computer indefinitely. It’s more analogous to the download feature offered on Netflix and Hulu’s mobile apps, which allows you to save a streaming video to view later using your local storage. This isn’t a way that lets you watch a video with a different player, such as VLC Media Player.

To get to the download, go to the YouTube hamburger menu and pick Downloads to get a list of everything you’ve downloaded with your browser. “Downloads will stay available as long as your device has an active internet connection at least once per 30 days,” according to the page.

This is most likely not what you were searching for in a download. However, the tools listed below do just that.