The way to obtain YouTube movies without cost, plus two different methods

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Whereas primary YouTube solely gives downloads for a number of movies in chosen areas, there are methods to obtain any YouTube video you need at any time.

Additionally: Observe ZDNET on YouTube!

We’ll cowl how one can obtain your favourite movies utilizing three approaches: 

Paying for YouTube PremiumUsing a free Mac, Home windows, or Linux applicationUsing an obscure and complicated (but very highly effective) Linux command line instrument

Your paid possibility: YouTube Premium

I am a giant fan of YouTube Premium as a result of it saves my spouse and me from enduring most adverts, however it’s a luxurious expense. People can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $11.99 a month. YouTube additionally gives a household plan for as much as six customers for $22.99 a month. Lastly, college students can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $6.99 a month. 

My favourite characteristic is an entire lack of Google-provided adverts. There aren’t any banners, no pre-roll, and no interstitial adverts. Nonetheless, if a YouTube channel desires to embed an advert in a video, YouTube Premium won’t filter these YouTuber-embedded adverts.

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YouTube Premium supplies background play and picture-in-picture, YouTube Music, and entry to YouTube Originals. 

YouTube Premium additionally consists of the power to obtain movies. This is the way you do it. 

The way to obtain YouTube movies through YouTube Premium

As soon as you have subscribed to YouTube Premium, you will have a Obtain button in your net browser or your cellphone app to the best of the Share (arrow) icon on the backside of a video. 

See the Obtain button marked by my arrows. 

Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET

Choose the video(s) you need to obtain and as soon as it comes up in the principle display show, click on the Obtain icon. 

Yow will discover your downloads within the Downloads space of YouTube. Discover that YouTube says that the downloads are retained so long as you could have an web connection no less than as soon as each 30 days. That manner, YouTube can verify you might be nonetheless a YouTube Premium consumer.

David Gewirtz/ZDNET

Saving as soon as downloaded 

You are not given a simple option to flip that obtain right into a usable video file on a desktop system, so if you wish to use that video for something apart from watching offline, you are considerably out of luck. The identical is true of iOS. 

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Additionally: Warning: Your personal YouTube movies aren’t 100% personal

Nonetheless, when you’re an Android consumer with an SD card slot in your cellphone, you’ll be able to set the YouTube app settings (faucet your profile image, then Settings, then Downloads) to avoid wasting movies to your SD card.

David Gewirtz/ZDNET

So, that is how one can obtain movies into an solely barely usable kind for the low-low value of $11.99 per 30 days. However what in order for you a greater resolution, and also you need to do it without cost? Yeah, we have now you coated.

Your free possibility (and my most popular manner) to obtain YouTube movies: ClipGrab

I’ve to provide ZDNET’s managing editor props for introducing me to this program a number of years in the past. I have been utilizing it ever since. 

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ClipGrab is a free program accessible for Mac, Home windows, and Linux customers. The developer says it is open supply, however the supply code is simply accessible for Linux. In any case, ClipGrab rocks. This is how one can obtain and use it.

1. Go to ClipGrab.org

Level your browser to ClipGrab.org and click on the Present All Obtain Choices hyperlink. You may see obtain hyperlinks for Mac, Home windows, and Linux there. I will present you the Mac model on this article, however the interface is nearly similar on all three.

2. Copy the YouTube video hyperlink

Copy the video hyperlink of the YouTube video(s) you want to obtain. You are able to do this up in your browser’s URL bar or by clicking the Share button underneath the video itself. 

3. Launch ClipGrab

Just be sure you’re on the Downloads tab after which select the Launch ClipGrab possibility. 

4. Copy and Paste 

Copy and paste the URL of the video you need to obtain into ClickGrab. 

5. Click on Seize this clip!

As soon as you have copied and pasted the specified video hyperlink into the ClickGrab browser, choose Seize this clip!

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Put one hyperlink of a video at a time into the highest Downloads tab browser on ClickGrab. When you’re able to obtain, choose Seize this clip!

David Gewirtz/ZDNET

6. Select the video format

On ClickGrab, you can even tweak choices.

For instance, you’ll be able to select the format you need the video to be in when it is saved in your laptop. I typically go together with Unique, however I will specify one thing else if that does not work. 

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It’s also possible to choose obtain decision. Relying on the video’s unique decision, you’ll be able to select to obtain the complete decision video or scale back the decision to avoid wasting area.

David Gewirtz/ZDNET

7. Customise

Lastly, tapping the Settings tab helps you to customise the place ClipGrab deposits your newly downloaded movies.

David Gewirtz/ZDNET

Linux command line choices

I might be remiss (or so I have been instructed within the feedback under, on Twitter, and in my e mail inbox) if I did not point out that Linux customers have a command line possibility (as a result of, after all they do) to obtain YouTube movies. As with all-things Linux command line, there are some grey areas right here, akin to whether or not the instrument even works or whether or not there’s a greater instrument.

The primary on this command line hit parade is youtube-dl. You will get entry to it through its personal web site, on GitHub, or your favourite bundle supervisor. 

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It needs to be famous that the GitHub repository was taken down for some time on account of an allegation of DMCA violations, however GitHub later reinstated it. You may learn a really fascinating story about GitHub’s reasoning and response. 

Some of us declare that youtube-dl is outdated hat and hasn’t been up to date shortly. There’s one other open-source challenge on GitHub, known as yt-dlp, that claims to be a fork of youtube-dl with extra options. I have never examined it, so use it at your individual danger.

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Each youtube-dl and yt-dlp provide a really, very wide selection of options when you want them. Personally, I’ll persist with ClipGrab, as a result of I haven’t got time to show YouTube downloading right into a second or third full-time job. Nevertheless it’s as much as you.

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What occurred to SaveFrom.internet?

A few of you could be acquainted with the location SaveFrom.internet. This web site allowed you to obtain from YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion (and some different websites), merely by pasting a URL into an online web page on the location. It additionally had a browser extension that facilitated downloads. However, highlighting the subject in our subsequent part, SaveFrom.internet has shut down its operations within the U.S. and the U.Okay., saying this from the U.Okay. (and the equal within the U.S.):

Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET

Nonetheless, one in every of our intrepid editors (not me) set his VPN to the Czech Republic and located that SaveFrom.internet is alive and nicely, hiding far-off from copyright legal guidelines:

Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET

Talking of copyright legal guidelines…

Some ethical, moral, and authorized concerns

Now that you understand how to obtain YouTube movies, must you? First, do bear in mind that completely different jurisdictions have completely different legal guidelines. It could or might not be authorized to obtain a given video, even when all you need to do is watch it offline.

If you wish to obtain a video to include it into one thing you are producing, remember the fact that some international locations have the idea of Truthful Use. In these jurisdictions, small clips of copyrighted media could be integrated into your productions. However you also needs to keep in mind that YouTube has algorithmic programs on the lookout for folks reusing movies, and your channel may get a strike in opposition to it for reusing media.

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When unsure, it is all the time greatest to ask.

So, there you go. Do you could have different strategies for conducting the identical factor? Tell us within the feedback under.


You may observe my day-to-day challenge updates on social media. Make sure to observe me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Fb at Fb.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.

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