How to Download YouTube Videos to Your Computer

YouTube being the biggest website in Online video streaming & search engine, has developed algorithms to avoid illegal download & distribution of their content. Also, when you are travelling, internet connection might not be that great to watch YouTube Videos in car and although, you can use Android auto to watch YouTube videos in car, a downloaded video can be watched anytime without the internet connection. While there are various YouTube videos download website, it’s really troublesome to copy link & Go to download website & paste the link and then you can begin the download.

Even if you download a YouTube video, the question arises is “is this Legal?”. Well, unless and until you’re downloading it for your personal use, you’re Okay! But Google’s guidelines strictly says “You shall not download any Content unless you see a ‘download’ or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content.”

Do Google doesn’t want you to download YouTube videos? Once you have downloaded the videos, you’ll surely not watch the video again on Youtube; that is you’re taking money out of Google’s pocket & taking away the hard work of content creators as YouTube Ads are their major source of income. So, if you’re looking to reupload a YouTube video, it’s a big no-no. YouTube is very strict with Copyright policies & you don’t want to lose your Google account.

Methods to Save YouTube Videos On Desktop

While there are many ways of downloading a YouTube video, you always wanted a “Download” button next to the video or on the video page, whichever is possible. Earlier, I used IDM which provided the download option. But IDM being a paid software, rules it out of the category. The following 3 methods are free and simple to apply. The first one is the fastest one to save YouTube video on your desktop.

Method 1: Downloading YouTube Videos using SaveFrom.net

Pre-requisites

• Google Chrome Browser Installed
• SaveForm.net Helper: Download

Step 1: Download SaveForm.net Helper from the above download link and click on the Download button on the website.

Step 2: After downloading the exe file, run the file as “Administator” and grant permissions (if asked). Perform the installation process by pressing Next & accepting agreement.

Step3: While installation, the software will ask you whether you want to add Buttons in all your browsers or selected ones. You can select as per choice.

If you want to convert the Videos in lower quality, to mp3 or 3gp (which is dead) format, you can click on the arrow next to the Download button and select the desired format. Few format requires Ummy Chrome extension, you can download it from the option provided.

Method 2: Download YouTube Videos on Chrome

Step 1: Download Addoncrop.com YouTube Downloader Chrome Extension

Step 2: Extract all files from the downloaded Zip file

Step 3: Click on the dropdown menu on the top right corner of Google Chrome window and select “More Tools”

Step 4: Click on “Extensions”, Enable the developers option and then click on “Load Unpacked”

Step 5: Expand the extracted YouTube Downloader folder and then click on “YouTube Video Downloader” on the pop-up

Step 6: Click on “OK” and you will see a YouTube Extension on your Chorme

Now, when you open YouTube, you will find a download extension on the video.

Method 3: Save YouTube Videos to Computer with VLC Media Player

Step 1: Open “VLC Player” and select Media tab and click on “Open Network Stream”

Step 2: Copy YouTube URL and play it on VLC Player

Step 3: Go to Tools and select “Media Information”. By this, the video will play on VLC Player

Step 4: While the video is on, Go to Tools, select “Media Information and copy the location of the video (shown at bottom in Media Information)

Step 5: Open Google Chrome and paste the video location in the address bar. By this, the YouTube video starts playing on Google Chrome.

Step 6: Right click on the video and select save video on your desired location of your computer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

I guess that’s all about it. I found these 3 tricks as the simplest one’s to download a YouTube video for free. I hope you liked the tricks & this helped you avoid using up your Internet data which gets wasted by watching or listening the same videos. You can also play YouTube videos in Background on Android devices and in iOS without jailbreak for your devices.