How to Download YouTube Videos: 4 Most Convenient Ways

YouTube stores limitless piles of content and no wonder some of the videos are worth saving for good. If you’re looking for the most convenient and effortless way to download a YouTube video in the highest quality and the desired format, this piece is for you.

In this article, we’re exploring four ways, paid and free, to save a video from YouTube to watch it offline. We’ll cover both online and desktop solutions that proved to be the most handy and, more importantly, safest when it comes to downloading YouTube content.

YouTube Premium: Native Yet Paid Way to Download YouTube Videos

YouTube allows you to natively download videos from its platform. With a nuance, however: It isn’t for free. YouTube Premium unlocks this possibility and a few more for $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year for an individual subscription. For the YouTube Premium Family plan, you’ll have to pay $22.99 per month.

What YouTube Premium gives you in return is the watching experience free of Google-run ads, such as pre-rolls, banners, or interstitial ads. It won’t keep you safe from the ads integrated right into the video by the content creator, though.

With YouTube Premium, you’ll also be able to enjoy YouTube videos in the background and listen to YouTube Music without interruptions. Let alone the ability to download songs and albums at the highest bit rate provided by YouTube.

But the functionality you’re most interested in is YouTube video downloading. Let’s see how you can do that with the YouTube Premium access.

How to download YouTube videos with YouTube Premium

Follow these steps to save YouTube clips with its Premium access for good.

Acquire the YouTube Premium subscription on the official YouTube Premium page .
Log in to your YouTube Premium account.
Find the Download button under the videos.

Once you become a YouTube Premium user, the Download option is accessible to you under every video.

Open the YouTube video you want to download and press the Download button.
Enjoy your downloads offline.

You’ll see the Downloads tab under the Watch Later playlist. Head over to it, and you’ll see a bunch of videos you’ve downloaded with YouTube Premium.

Download YouTube Videos for Free Online & on Desktop

YouTube Premium works not in all regions. So if that’s the case or if you’d rather save the downloaded files on your device, either desktop or mobile, we recommend other methods, such as third-party applications and online services. Let’s cover the desktop solutions first.

4K Video Downloader+

4K Video Downloader+ is a desktop application compatible with Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu computers. The tool is super easy to use and allows you to download single YouTube videos, YouTube playlists , entire YouTube channels , YouTube Shorts, YouTube Kids, YouTube Gaming, and private playlists like Watch Later. The solution can also extract YouTube subtitles in over 50 languages. Even 3D and 360-degree videos are supported to download.

What’s more, you can also subscribe to YouTube channels within 4K Video Downloader+ and have all new videos automatically saved on your computer.

The main window of 4K Video Downloader+. Image owned by 4K Download

In addition to YouTube videos download, it can convert YouTube clips to audio and save them on your device in MP3, M4A, and OGG formats.

YouTube isn’t the only source you can download videos from, however. 4K Video Downloader+ lets you grab audio and video content from Facebook, Bilibili, Vimeo, Dailymotion, SoundCloud, Flickr, Tumblr, Twitch, and a lot more sites.

The app has all the major functionality available for free. To unlock more perks, such as ad-free downloads, unlimited downloads, in-app YouTube subscriptions, and more, you can purchase one of the paid plans: Lite ($15 a year), Personal ($25 one-time fee) or Pro ($45 one-time fee).

How to Download YouTube Videos with 4K Video Downloader+

To download any YouTube clip in the highest possible quality and have it automatically saved on your desktop, follow these steps:

Install and launch 4K Video Downloader+ on your Windows, macOS, or Ubuntu computer.

It’s free and safe to do.

Find the video you want to download on YouTube and copy its URL.

Visit YouTube and copy the URL address of the clip you want to save.

Alternatively, at this stage, you can use the in-app browser and find the necessary YouTube video without even leaving the app! Just open the in-app browser, click on the YouTube icon, and find the video in the search field. Then just open it and press Download under it.

In-app browser of 4K Video Downloader+. Image owned by 4K Download

Select the format, quality, and output folder where you want the video to be saved in.

Before pasting the link, choose the format, quality, and output folder in the header menu called Smart Mode. With 4K Video Downloader+, you can save YouTube videos in MP4 and MKV and up to 8K quality.

Smart Mode with download settings. Image owned by 4K Download

The settings you choose at this stage will remain the same and be automatically applied to your next download, so don’t forget to change them next time if you want to save a file with different parameters.

If you don’t select the output folder, 4K Video Downloader+ will create a special folder that will save all audio and video files you download with the software.

Paste the URL into the app.

To do so, just click on the Paste Link button at the top left corner of the app’s window. The link will be automatically pasted and processed by the application.

Wait a few moments before the app processes the task and play the video by clicking on it.

The video will open in your default desktop player. If you want to download a YouTube playlist, entire channel, or convert a video to MP3, follow the same course of actions as above.

If you want to download a video from another site, such as Facebook or Twitch, copy the video link from an address bar and repeat the steps.

EasyWMA

If installing third-party software on your desktop isn’t to your liking for some reason, here’s a free and safe online solution to download YouTube videos. YouTube to MP4 converter from EasyWMA is a web-based solution that you can access from any browser, both on your laptop or mobile. With this service, you can easily and quickly download a YouTube video on your device in MP4.

EasyWMA won’t cost you a single penny, no matter how many videos you intend to download. Some other perks of this YouTube to MP4 converter are that it downloads videos super quickly, there are no ads that might disturb your experience, and it’s exceptionally easy to use, as it’s literally a one-click solution.

How to Download YouTube Videos with EasyWMA

You don’t have to be tech-savvy at all to master this tool. Just follow these simple steps to save any video content from YouTube on your device:

Open the EasyWMA website.

Since it’s an online solution, you won’t need to install any software. No annoying ads that pop up the whole space will disturb you, either.

Find the YouTube video you want to download and copy its URL.

Visit YouTube and copy the URL address of the clip you want to save.

Paste the URL link into the paste field on the EasyWMA website page.

EasyWMA online YouTube converter. Image owned by EasyWMA

Press the Download button next to the URL field you’ve just pasted.
Select the required format and quality.

The service provides you with multiple options. Select the format (MP4 for videos and MP3 for audio) and choose the quality: 144p, 360p, or 720p.

YouTube video download settings in EasyWMA. Image owned by EasyWMA

Save the video on your device.

Once you select the format and quality, the service will start processing your clip for downloading. The video in the format and quality you’ve selected in the previous step will open in a new window in your browser. All you have to do is right-click on the video, select the Save As option, and head over to the next step.

Select the output folder.

We were offered the desktop by default, but you can change the output folder if you feel like. Once you select the folder where you want to save the YouTube video, click on Download.

Play the video and enjoy!

Open the video from the output folder, and it will play in the default player on your laptop.

Youtube-dl: Open-Source Advanced YouTube Video Download Option

If you’re tech-savvy or seasoned enough to challenge yourself with an advanced solution, check youtube-dl. This is yet another safe and popular way to download videos from YouTube, but note that you have to possess certain technical, or to be more specific, Python knowledge to properly master it.

Youtube-dl is a command-line service that lets you download videos from YouTube and some other sites; 1,000 sources are available, according to its developers. The program is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu devices but it can also run on Unix Box. To use youtube-dl, no registration or payments are required.

To work with youtube-dl, you need the Python interpreter. Youtube-dl can download YouTube videos in a plethora of formats and qualities; to select one, there’s a special command line, such as --format FORMAT, --prefer-free-formats, etc. Videos up to 4K quality and all common formats are supported.

Once the video is downloaded, you can use any player installed on your computer.

You can access the tool via their GitHub or their own site: Simply enter “youtube-dl” to the search bar on GitHub or Google. On GitHub, you’ll learn how to install the tool and properly use it.

How to Download YouTube Videos: Final Thoughts

There are a plethora of online and desktop third-party solutions that enable you to download YouTube videos; however, not a whole lot of them are safe to use, as developers might use gray schemes and ask you to pay on certain unsafe web pages. By no means rush to transfer money to unknown sites or developers, nor should you install any suspicious software on your computer. We recommend you stick to our recommendations, as the methods we provided above are manually tested by us, and we can vouch for their safety.

Besides, don’t forget that even though downloading videos from YouTube isn’t illegal per se, commercial use of such materials can lead to copyright infringement. This is why you should always make sure you save YouTube content made by other creators for personal use only.

Disclaimer: The above is a sponsored post, the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of Outlook Editorial.