YouTube holds billions of hours of videos, and more are uploaded everyday. YouTube is the go-to video destination for downloading and uploading videos since its launch in 2005. There are many reasons why you might want to download videos from YouTube. First, it allows you to watch them without an internet connection, which is ideal for keeping you entertained on trains, planes, and road trips where the internet connection is unstable.
Legal restrictions
When it comes to downloading videos from YouTube, it would be best if you first familiarize yourself with the platform’s terms of service. One important thing to note is that you cannot download, reproduce, distribute, access, modify, alter, license, sell, display, broadcast, transmit, or otherwise use the content or service except:
a) As directly authorized by the service
b) With written permission from Google
Arguing from the copyright front, you are allowed to download the videos for your personal use.
That being said, here are steps you can use to download videos on YouTube.
1. Choose a downloader
A video downloader is a software or a website used for downloading movies and video clips from various video sharing sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo. Most downloaders have a search engine where you paste the link to the video you want to download. Most video downloaders contain ads that are quite a nuisance. It is just a matter of choosing the right one. Tech experts from http://vidd.ly/ always emphasize on the importance of picking the right downloader. This is because things, such as ads, make people lose interest in watching the full clip, which is a downside to the video owner. Imagine being distracted by a lotion ad while watching your favorite show.
To ensure you have a good experience with your video downloader, here are some features to look out for:
- Presence of ads
- Quality of videos
- Sharing features
- Ease of using the software
- Presence of a schedule downloader
- Multiple language support
- Customer service
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2. Copy and paste the link
Once you’ve selected the video downloader, go to YouTube and select the video you want to download. Copy its URL from the address bar. Go back to your video downloader and paste the link. The software will contact YouTube and get information about the video, including available quality, size, and format. Video downloader software can only download the video if the link is available on YouTube.
3. Select the desired format and quality
Most video downloaders allow you to choose your preferred format. You can pick either MP4, 3GP, AVI, MOV, or MP3. Some downloaders have the capability of ripping the video if you do not want to download the entire clip. It is advisable to download MP4 videos because they can play on most devices, and they have a good balance of file size and quality. If you are not concerned with the quality of the video, 3GP is the right format. It is suitable for small screens such as mobile phones and mini laptops.
If you plan to watch on Apple devices, MOV is the format for you. AVI format was developed at Microsoft for other PCs. MP4 is the video equivalent of MP3, and it works on most devices.
When choosing the quality of the video, be guided by the device you will use to watch. For TV and PC, you should download the highest resolution, which might take more space and time to download. YouTube stream videos in multiple qualities ranging from 3GP to 1080p high resolution. There are four options for your smartphone, computer, or tablet: 1080p, 720p, 480p, and 360p. The size of the file is directly proportional to the quality. High quality translates to a big file size.
Some video downloaders have a smart mode where you do not have to input the format and quality of the videos to download. With smart mode, you set up your download preferences once, and all the videos will be downloaded in that format.
4. Click download
Once you have chosen the quality and format, it’s time to decide where to save your downloaded files. By default, most devices save downloaded videos on the download folder. Some downloaders can download multiple videos at the same time. Therefore, you can go ahead and select other videos to download. Once the video has finished downloading, you can look for it in the destination folder.
If you have a mobile plan with limited data allowance, you might need to download videos and watch them offline. You may need to download videos using your home Wi-Fi and watch them when you are outdoors without using your data. The best part about downloading videos from YouTube is that you are not charged. YouTube itself provides free tools for downloading the videos. In addition, there are several third-party software you can use.