How to Download YouTube Videos

YouTubers upload hundreds of hours of footage every minute. What if you want to download it? In some circles, that’s considered a big no-no, but you have your reasons, right? Here’s how.

There are billions of hours of video on YouTube. Literally. And that’s hardly the most astounding statistic about the site, which has been the go-to destination for uploading and watching video since 2005. That said, sometimes, you really want or need to have one of those videos on your own computer or phone. But when the topic of downloading YouTube videos comes up, there’s a side subject that must be broached: Is it legal?

On the copyright front, as long as you’re downloading a video for your own personal offline use, you’re probably okay. It’s more black and white when you consider Google’s terms of service for YouTube, which read: “You are not allowed to…access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the respective rights holders.”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.502.0_en.html#goog_20027139060 seconds of 1 secondVolume 0% 

How do I download music from YouTube?

Sometimes you might want to download only the audio from a video on YouTube. The easiest way to do this is to use one of the methods above and choose MP3 (or whichever audio format is offered). This way you’ll only download the audio track, with none of the video footage. That’s ideal if you just want to download some music or the audio from a YouTube podcast, and not have to have YouTube open and running on your phone while you listen.

It is possible to listen to YouTube in the background with and a separate one for Android phones.

If you don’t mind paying, you can also download music as part of YouTube Music Premium, which is £9.99/$9.99 per month. It will let you download songs and even music videos, but is limited to music – you won’t be able to download other videos as you can with a YouTube Premium subscription.

As the second-most visited site on the internet – after Google itself – YouTube has around 23 billion visitors per month. Most of them watch videos on the website or via one of the many YouTube apps.

Sometimes, though, you’ll want to download a video. Maybe that’s to watch it offline, or perhaps you want to save a useful video just in case it’s ever taken down. Whatever your reason, we’ll explain a few different ways that you can do this. It’s possible – and easy – to download videos on a Windows laptop or PC, and on Android phones. It’s not as easy on an iPhone, unless you pay for YouTube Premium, but it’s possible if you’re determined.

Do remember that watching videos in the YouTube app (or website) and not skipping the ads is the best way to support your favourite channels.

There are two official ways to download videos from YouTube. First, there’s the app which is available in countries where mobile data is too expensive for streaming them.