How to Download YouTube Videos

Method 1 of 4:

Using Y2Mate on a Computer, Phone, or Tablet

1.

1
Go to https://www.youtube.com (https://www.youtube.com/)
in a web browser. Any web browser on a computer, phone, or
tablet should work for this method.

2.
 2
Click the video you want to download. The video will begin
playing.

3.

3
Copy the video's URL. To do this, click or tap the web address
at the top of your web browser—this highlights the address.
Now, right-click (or tap-and-hold on a phone or tablet) the
selected address to bring up the menu, and then click or tap
Copy.

4.

4
 Go to https://y2mate.com (https://y2mate.com/) in a web
browser. This free website helps you download audio and
video files from YouTube.

You can use this same technique on any YouTube download

site. If you need help finding a trusted site, google "youtube
download site," then choose one of the links that show up
highest on the Google search results page.[2]
(https://www.wikihow.com/Download-YouTube-Videos#_note-2)

5.

5
Paste the copied URL. To do this, right-click (or tap-and-hold)
the "Search or paste link here" bar, and then select Paste.

.
 6
Click Start. It's the pink button next to the URL. This refreshes
the page.

7.

7
Click the Download button next to the desired format. If you
want to download the video, select one of the green Download
links next to the desired file size and type. To download just
the audio, click the Audio tab to select one of the options.

.
 8
Save the video or audio to your computer. If the download
doesn't start automatically, follow the on-screen instructions
to save the file.

Method 2 of 4:

Using VLC Player on a Computer

1.

1
 Go to https://www.youtube.com (https://www.youtube.com/)
on your computer. If you have VLC Media Player on your
computer, you may be able to use it to download videos from
YouTube. Start by navigating to YouTube in your browser.

If you don't have VLC Player on your computer, you can

download it from https://www.videolan.org
(https://www.videolan.org/) or use another method.

This method should work for most videos, but some may
display a "Your input can't be opened" error during the
download.[3] (https://www.wikihow.com/Download-YouTube-Videos#_note-3)

2.

2
Go to the video you want to download. You can search for the
video using the "Search" bar at the top of the screen. Once you
select the video, it should begin playing right away.

3.
 3
Copy the video's URL. You can do this by highlighting the URL
in the address bar at the top of the browser and pressing
Ctrl +C (PC) or ⌘ Command +C (Mac).

4.

4
Open VLC Player. It should be in the Start menu on Windows
and in the Applications folder on macOS. It's the icon of an
orange traffic cone.

If you don't have it already, you can download VLC for free at
https://www.videolan.org (https://www.videolan.org/). VLC is
 an open-source video player with a lot of beneficial features
for playing all kinds of files.

5.

5
Open a new network stream. Network streams allow you to
play content from your web browser in VLC. The steps are a
little different for Windows and macOS:

Windows: Click Media, then click Open Network Stream....

macOS: Click File and then Open Network.

6
 Paste the YouTube video's URL into the field. Click the
"Please enter a network URL" text box, then press Ctrl +V (PC)
or ⌘ Command +V (Mac).

7.

7
Click Play (PC) or Open (Mac). This will open the YouTube
video in VLC.

If you are still unable to play any YouTube videos, copy the
text on this web page
(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/shar
e/lua/playlist/youtube.lua) and paste it into a new Notepad or
TextEdit file. Save the file as "youtube.lua". On Windows,
navigate to "C:\Program Files
(x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\playlist" in file explorer. On Mac,
right-click on VLC.app in Applications and click Show
Contents. Then navigate to "/MacOS/share/lua/playlist".
Delete the "youtube.luac" file and replace it with the
"youtube.lua" file you saved.[4] (https://www.wikihow.com/Download-
YouTube-Videos#_note-4)

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Windows: Click Tools, then click Codec Information.

Mac: Click Window, then click Media Information.

9.

9
Copy the "Location" field. At the bottom of the window, you'll
see a long address that you'll need to copy. Highlight the
entire address and then follow these steps to copy it:

Windows: Right-click the highlighted link and click Copy.

 Mac: Right-click the text field and click Open URL.

10.

10
Paste the copied URL into your web browser and press ↵
Enter . You can skip this step if you're using a Mac as the video
should already appear in a browser. If you're using Windows,
open a new browser tab, right-click the address bar, and then
click Paste.

11.

11
Right-click the video and select Save video as. This should
open your computer's "Save" dialog.
12.

12
Download the video. Right-click the video in your browser,
then click Save video as in the resulting drop-down menu. The
video will begin downloading onto your computer as an MP4
file with the name "videoplayback".

13.

13
Select a location and click Save. This downloads the video to
your computer. Once the file is downloaded, you can view it by
double-clicking the file.

Method 3 of 4:
Using 4K Video Downloader on a Computer

1.

1
Download the 4K Video Downloader setup file. Go to
https://www.4kdownload.com/products/product-
videodownloader
(https://www.4kdownload.com/products/product-
videodownloader) in your computer's web browser, then click
Get 4K Video Downloader on the left side of the page. The 4K
Video Downloader setup file will download onto your
computer.

4K Video Downloader is available on both Windows and Mac

computers.[5] (https://www.wikihow.com/Download-YouTube-Videos#_note-5)

2.
 2
Install 4K Video Downloader. Once the 4K Video Downloader
setup file finishes downloading, you can install it by doing the
following:

Windows: Double-click the setup file, click Yes when

prompted, and follow the on-screen setup instructions.

Mac: Double-click the setup file, verify the installation

(https://www.wikihow.com/Install-Software-from-Unsigned-
Developers-on-a-Mac) if necessary, click and drag the 4K
Video Downloader app icon onto the "Applications" folder, and
follow any on-screen instructions.

3.
 3
Go to https://www.youtube.com (https://www.youtube.com/)
in a web browser.

4.

4
Go to the video you want to download. The video should begin
playing.

5.
 5
Copy the video's address. Click the video's address in the bar
at the top of your browser's window, then press Ctrl +A
(Windows) or ⌘ Command +A (Mac) to fully select it and press
Ctrl +C or ⌘ Command +C to copy it.

6
Open 4K Video Downloader. If 4K Video Downloader didn't
automatically open upon finishing its installation, click its link
in the Windows Start menu or your Mac's Applications folder.

7.
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Click Paste Link. It's in the top-left corner of the 4K Video
Downloader window. Doing so will cause the 4K Video
Downloader to extract the address you copied.

8
Select a video format from the "Format" menu. If you don't
see "4K" listed in the quality options for a video which you
know supports 4K, changing the video format from MP4 to
MKV will usually prompt the 4K option to appear.

9.
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Select a quality. By default, the highest possible quality will be
selected, but you can check the box next to a different quality
(e.g., 1080p) if your computer doesn't support the highest
quality.

10.

10
Click Download. It's at the bottom of the window. Your video
will begin downloading onto your computer.

11.
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Open your video's location. Once your video finishes
downloading, right-click it and then click Show in Folder in the
resulting drop-down menu. This will cause a File Explorer
(Windows) or Finder (Mac) window with your downloaded
video to open, at which point you can double-click the video to
play it in your computer's default video player.

On a Mac, you can hold down Ctrl while clicking the video to
prompt the right-click menu to appear.

Method 4 of 4:

Using KeepVid on an iPhone or iPad

1.
 1
Install Documents by Readdle on your iPhone or iPad. Apple
makes it sort of difficult to download files to your iPhone or
iPad, so you'll use an app called Readdle. Here's how to get it:

Open the App Store.

Tap Search at the bottom-right corner.

Type readdle into the search bar at the top of the screen and
tap Search .

Tap GET or the cloud icon next to "Documents by Readdle." It's

the gray "D" icon with yellow and green accents.

2.
 2
Open YouTube on your iPhone or iPad. It's the white icon with
a red rectangle and white triangle inside.

3.

3
Go to the video you want to download. Tap the magnifying
glass at the top of the screen to search, or tap Library at the
bottom-right corner to browse videos you've saved. Once you
get to the video, it will start playing immediately.

4.
 4
Tap Share. It's the icon with an arrow below the video's title.
Several sharing icons will appear.

5.

5
Tap Copy link. It's the gray icon with two overlapping
rectangles in the bottom row of icons. This copies the video's
link to your clipboard.

.
 6
Open the Documents app. It's the gray "D" icon with yellow
and green accents. It should now occupy the last icon
position on your home screen.

Since it's your first time using the app, tap Continue when
prompted, and then proceed through the screens until you
reach the screen that says "Documents" at the top.

7.

7
Tap the blue compass icon. It's at the bottom-right corner of
the "Documents" screen. This opens a web browser.
 .

8
Go to https://keepvid.pro (https://keepvid.pro/) in the
browser. You can do this by typing the URL into the "Go to this
address" bar at the top of the screen and then tapping Go .

9.

9
Tap the "Enter Link" field. This springs open your keyboard.

10.
 10
Tap and hold the "Enter Link" field. After a second or so, the
"Select All" and "Paste" options will appear.

11.

11
Tap Paste. The YouTube video link you copied will appear in
the blank.

12.
 12
Tap the blue Download Now button. Keepvid will locate the
video and provide some download options below.

13.

13
Scroll down and tap Best Download. It's the blue button below
the video's duration. The "Save File" screen will appear.

If you want a smaller file, you can tap the Download Other
Formats button below instead and choose something else.

14.
 14
Rename the file (optional) and tap Done. This downloads the
video to your iPhone or iPad. Once the video is downloaded,
you'll be returned to the main Documents by Readdle screen.

15.

15
Add the Readdle folder to the Files app. If you add Readdle to
your Files app it'll be easy for you to access your downloaded
videos. Here's how:

Open the Files app (the blue folder) on your home screen. It
may be buried in a folder.
 Tap Browse at the bottom.

Tap Edit at the top-right corner.

Tap Done at the top-right corner.

You can now use the Files app to access the videos you
download with Documents by Readdle.

1 .

16

Open Files.

Tap Browse.

Tap Documents.

Tap Downloads.

Computer Specialist
Expert Answer
The easiest way to download a YouTube video is to input the
URL of the video into a YouTube downloader site. If you're not
sure where to find one, just do a Google search for "YouTube
downloader," then choose one of the top options on the
search results page.

Community Answer
Yes, any video downloaded using the methods above can be
played without an internet connection. You'll need internet to
download the video in the first place, though.

Community Answer
If you're using an Android tablet, you can use the website
downloader instructions above to download videos directly to
your device. If you're using an iPad, you'll need to download
the video to a computer first and then sync it with iTunes, as
videos cannot be downloaded directly to iOS devices.

Community Answer
If you've found a song on YouTube that you want to download,
you can use a downloading service like Clipgrab or KeepVid to
process the URL. This will give you a link to the MP3 version
of the video, which will just contain the music (and any other
audio).

Question
Can I download a low-resolution video if the high-quality
version is too large and takes too much time to download?

Community Answer
Yes and no. It depends on where you are downloading the
video from, and what options there are. Some websites have a
low-resolution download option while others do not.

Community Answer
Many of the YouTube downloading services will offer an MP3
option when you've entered the URL. This will allow you to
download a file containing just the audio from the YouTube
video.

Question
I have an LG tablet. I would like to download movie videos
from YouTube into Google Chrome for offline viewing. I seem
unable to figure out what or how to do this. What do I do?

Community Answer
There should be download options below every video.

Question
What should I do if I get an error message when I try to open a
video that I downloaded from YouTube?

Community Answer
Go back to the download and check to see if the download is
still in progress. If it has completed or failed, then you might
have to re-download the file.

Adrian
Top Answerer
It is reliable. With video and image files you download from
the Internet, as long as you can open it successfully, you can
tell it is not malware. But VDYouTube is safe.

Community Answer
These methods will download the complete original video file.
You can open the video file in your favorite video editing
program after downloading it if you want to make edits.