How to download YouTube videos for free, plus two other ways

So that you wish to obtain a YouTube video? Whereas fundamental YouTube solely provides downloads for a number of chosen movies in a number of chosen places, there are methods to obtain any YouTube video you need at any time.

Additionally: Warning: Your non-public YouTube movies aren’t 100% non-public

We’ll cowl methods you may obtain your favourite movies utilizing three approaches: 

1. Paying for YouTube Premium
2. Utilizing a free Mac, Home windows, or Linux utility
3. Utilizing an obscure and sophisticated (but very highly effective) Linux command line device.

Your paid choice: YouTube Premium

I am a giant fan of YouTube Premium as a result of it saves my spouse and me from enduring most advertisements, however it’s a luxurious expense. People can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $11.99 a month. YouTube additionally provides a household plan for as much as six customers for $22.99 a month. Lastly, college students can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $6.99 a month. 

Additionally: Visit ZDNET on YouTube!

My favourite characteristic is a whole lack of Google-provided advertisements. There aren’t any banners, no pre-roll, and no interstitial advertisements. Nevertheless, if a YouTube channel desires to embed an advert in a video, YouTube Premium won’t filter these YouTuber-embedded advertisements.

YouTube Premium additionally gives background play and picture-in-picture, YouTube Music, and entry to YouTube Originals. 

YouTube Premium additionally consists of the flexibility to obtain movies. Here is the way you’d go about it. 

Tips on how to obtain YouTube movies through YouTube Premium

Saving as soon as downloaded 

You are not given a straightforward method to flip that obtain right into a usable video file on a desktop machine, so if you wish to use that video for something aside from watching offline, you are considerably out of luck. The identical is true of iOS. 

Additionally: How native politics made me flip to YouTube Premium as a last-ditch sanity protection

Nevertheless, in the event you’re an Android person with an SD card slot in your cellphone, you may set the YouTube app settings (faucet your profile image, then Settings, then Downloads) to avoid wasting movies to your SD card.

So, that is tips on how to obtain movies into an solely barely usable kind for the low-low worth of $11.99 per thirty days. However what if you would like a greater resolution, and also you wish to do it without cost? Yeah, we’ve you coated.

Additionally: I reduce my video streaming invoice in half, and so are you able to

Your free choice (and my most well-liked approach) to obtain YouTube movies: ClipGrab

I’ve to provide ZDNET’s managing editor props for introducing me to this program a number of years in the past. I have been utilizing it ever since. 

ClipGrab is a free program obtainable for Mac, Home windows, and Linux customers. The developer says it is open supply, however the supply code is barely obtainable for Linux. In any case, ClipGrab rocks. Here is tips on how to obtain and use it.

1. Go to ClipGrab.org

Level your browser to ClipGrab.org and click on the Present All Obtain Choices hyperlink. You will see obtain hyperlinks for Mac, Home windows, and Linux there. I will present you the Mac model on this article, however the interface is nearly an identical on all three.

2. Copy the YouTube video hyperlink

Copy the video hyperlink of the YouTube video(s) you want to obtain. You are able to do this up in your browser’s URL bar or by clicking the Share button below the video itself. 

3. Launch ClipGrab

Just remember to’re on the Downloads tab after which select the Launch ClipGrab choice. 

4. Copy and Paste 

Copy and paste the URL of the video you wish to obtain into ClickGrab. 

5. Click on Seize this clip!

As soon as you’ve got copied and pasted the specified video hyperlink into the ClickGrab browser, choose Seize this clip!

6. Select the video format

On ClickGrab, you may also tweak choices.

For instance, you may select the format you need the video to be in when it is saved in your laptop. I typically go together with Authentic, however I will specify one thing else if that does not work. 

You can even select obtain decision. Relying on the video’s authentic decision, you may select to obtain the total decision video or cut back the decision to avoid wasting house.

7. Customise

Lastly, tapping the Settings tab enables you to customise the place ClipGrab deposits your newly downloaded movies.

Linux command line choices

I might be remiss (or so I have been instructed within the feedback beneath, on Twitter, and in my electronic mail inbox) if I did not point out that Linux customers have a command line choice (as a result of, in fact they do) to obtain YouTube movies. As with all issues Linux command line, there are some grey areas right here, resembling whether or not the device even works or whether or not there’s a greater device (due to course there’s).

Additionally: Tips on how to set up Linux functions from the command line

The primary on this command line hit parade is youtube-dl. You may get entry to it through its own site, on GitHub, or your favourite bundle supervisor. It must be famous that the GitHub repository was taken down for some time attributable to an allegation of DMCA violations, however GitHub later reinstated it. There is a very attention-grabbing story about GitHub’s reasoning and response you may learn. 

Some of us declare that youtube-dl is previous hat and hasn’t been up to date shortly. That is probably not true. I simply visited its repo and the header mentioned youtube-dl was up to date two weeks in the past. It appears prefer it’s getting ongoing upkeep. That mentioned, there’s one other open supply undertaking on GitHub, known as yt-dlp, that claims to be a fork of youtube-dl with extra options. I have not examined it, use it at your personal danger.

Additionally: Linux is not only for builders and command line execs

Each youtube-dl and yt-dlp provide a really, very wide selection of options in the event you want them. Personally, I will stick to ClipGrab, as a result of I haven’t got time to show YouTube downloading right into a second or third full time job. However, ’tis as much as you.

What occurred to SaveFrom.internet?

A few of you could be aware of the positioning SaveFrom.internet. It allowed you to obtain from YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion (and some different websites), merely by pasting a URL into an online web page on the positioning. It additionally had a browser extension that facilitated downloads. However, highlighting the subject in our subsequent part, SaveFrom.internet has shut down its operations in the US and the UK, saying this from the UK (and the equal within the U.S.):

Nevertheless, considered one of our intrepid editors (not me) set his VPN to the Czech Republic and located that SaveFrom.internet is alive and nicely, hiding far-off from copyright legal guidelines:

Talking of copyright legal guidelines…

Some ethical, moral, and authorized concerns

Now that you understand how to obtain YouTube movies, must you? First, do bear in mind that completely different jurisdictions have completely different legal guidelines. It could or is probably not authorized to obtain a given video, even when all you wish to do is watch it offline.

If you wish to obtain a video to include it into one thing you are producing, needless to say some international locations have the idea of Honest Use. In these jurisdictions, small clips of copyrighted media might be included into your productions. But in addition, keep in mind that YouTube has algorithmic techniques on the lookout for individuals reusing movies, and your channel would possibly get a strike towards it for reusing media.

Additionally: Tips on how to file a cellphone name on an iPhone

When unsure, it is at all times greatest to ask.

There you go. Do you’ve gotten different methods for engaging in the identical factor? Tell us within the feedback beneath.

You’ll be able to comply with my day-to-day undertaking updates on social media. Remember to comply with me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Fb at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.