Simply log into your YouTube account at, find the video you want to download, and click the three-dot menu button alongside it. However, if something gets deleted by mistake, it can be a bit of a nightmare! Luckily, YouTube keeps a copy of every single video you upload - even if it’s set to private - which you can easily download. If you’re a YouTube creator, it can be handy to keep copies of your work on hand.
How to download a copy of your own YouTube video
The process is basically identical on Android smartphones and tablets, and you can also download video from search results by tapping on the three-dot menu. Simply visit the video you’d like to download and, underneath the video player, you’ll see a button marked “ Download.” You can see this below as shown on an iPad. Once you’ve got a YouTube Premium membership, downloading videos for offline use is super simple. You can sign up for YouTube Premium here. You’ll get more than just downloads, too, as YouTube Premium also delivers an ad-free experience and also unlocks YouTube Music, a streaming service that works with regular music (i.e. 3D and 360-degree videos are also out of the question, and very few can handle 4K.To enable offline playback on Android and iOS apps, you’ll need to be a YouTube Premium subscriber. They only allow you to download a single video at a time, and you can forget about saving whole playlists. Online video converters typically don't give you much (if any) choice about the video file either, in terms of quality or expert format. Many such sites also feature ads of a NSFW variety, or display thumbnails of recently downloaded videos, which may not be appropriate.
First of all, they're slower due to the limitations of the remote server and your data connection.
There are many sites that you can use to download YouTube videos, but we don't recommend them due to their disadvantages over desktop software. What's the difference between Online YouTube downloaders and desktop apps?
Read our full review: aTube Catcher Is it legal to downloaded YouTube videos?īefore you use a free YouTube downloader, bear in mind that using third-party apps to download videos is against YouTube's terms of service, which say you can only stream videos directly from its servers.ĭownloading videos is also potentially a copyright infringement unless you own the video yourself, have permission from the copyright holder, or it's in the public domain. This free YouTube downloader offers plenty of added extras too, such as the ability to record any on-screen video, video merging, and disc burning. If you're looking to download a large number of videos, you can download them all at once, maxing out your bandwidth – something not available in all of the best free YouTube downloaders on this list. When you're offered the first app, make sure to hit Cancel, and for the second one click Decline – then you'll be free to enjoy aTube Catcher without any unwanted surprises.ĭownloaded videos can be converted automatically to a number of popular formats, so you can tailor them for their intended use, or whatever device you intend to watch them on. Although the name suggests that this is just a YouTube downloader, aTube Catcher (opens in new tab) can actually save videos from most of the big video hosting sites.įirst, however, a word of warning: sneaky adware abounds during the installation.