How to download a youtube video to files

Download VLC, or another open-source media player. For the sake of time in this example, I downloaded VLC. You can find this free product here. Click the link above and follow VLC's download instructions. Below, you'll see the homepage of VLC once you download the program to your computer. Select "Open media In the top navigation bar of your Mac computer, click "Window" and select "Media information This step will retrieve the same information as in the step for Mac users above.

You'll see this information in the next step. In the screenshot below, s ee that long string of text highlighted in white at the bottom? Return to your internet browser and open a new tab. Paste the text that's currently copied onto your clipboard into your address bar. This will open an MP4 version of your YouTube video that you can actually save to your desktop. Click "Save Video As" and select your Desktop as the video file's destination. This might not be the "official" solution, but if you want that same MP4 video on your phone, you can email it to yourself and open it up as an attachment, and you're good to go!

Sometimes, all you need is the audio of a YouTube video -- especially if it's new music. That's where MP3 files come in. Want to download an MP3 version of a YouTube video to your desktop? GenYouTube is the easiest and quickest way to convert YouTube videos to MP3 audio downloads, particularly because you can do it from the YouTube video.

Here's how:. That's it! You're all set to listen and watch your favorite YouTube videos wherever, and whenever, you want. Originally published Jun 17, PM, updated April 12 Logo - Full Color. Contact Sales. The 4K Video Downloader setup file will download onto your computer. 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 if necessary, click and drag the 4K Video Downloader app icon onto the "Applications" folder, and follow any on-screen instructions.

The video should begin playing. Copy the video's address. 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. 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. 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.

Select a quality. By default, the highest possible quality will be selected, but you can check the box next to a different quality e. For example, many laptop screens don't support 4K video, meaning that downloading a video in 4K is pointless. Click Download. It's at the bottom of the window. Your video will begin downloading onto your computer. 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 3.

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. Follow the on-screen instructions. Open YouTube on your iPhone or iPad. It's the white icon with a red rectangle and white triangle inside. 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. Tap Share. It's the icon with an arrow below the video's title. Several sharing icons will appear.

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

Tap and hold the "Enter Link" field. After a second or so, the "Select All" and "Paste" options will appear. Tap Paste. The YouTube video link you copied will appear in the blank. Tap the blue Download Now button. Keepvid will locate the video and provide some download options below.

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.

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.

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.

Slide the "Documents" switch to the On green position. Tap Done at the top-right corner. You can now use the Files app to access the videos you download with Documents by Readdle. Watch the downloaded video. YouTube considers these activities as unauthorized or illegitimate. At Guru99, we never encourage such activities. Important: You should use these YouTube downloader apps only to download your personal YouTube videos or those with Creative Commons reusable licenses. Video DownloadHelper is a very popular browser extension that enables you to save YouTube videos to a local drive.

It provides smart naming of the clips that you are going to save. This free application allows you to control multiple downloads. Hence, you need to use Firefox or other Browsers. The software supports a wide range of audio compression methods. Copy the video URL. Step 5 Go to Tools and click on Codec Information. A new window will open as below. Step 6 Copy-paste the URL into a web browser and press enter. It does not allow to store any higher resolution, even if the actual YouTube stream is available in p or p.

On the iOS system, you have to install an app called Documents. It is actually a file manager, but it also enables you to download video clips. The method is a little tricky, but still straightforward. First, you have to search the clip you like to download in the YouTube application for iOS. After this, tap on the share icon. Now open documents and find a web browser icon and tap on it. Paste the address of the YouTube video in the text box, choose your desired quality option, and your clip will start downloading.

When the download is finished, it will appear in the downloads section of Documents. YouTube premium has many impressive features. It has the ability to download videos to watch them offline without any other software.