Free YouTube downloaders will let you save videos from the world's biggest video hosting site, ready to watch offline later whenever you want.
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These free tools will enable you to download and save videos from YouTube – and often other video sharing sites too – in a format of your choice. You can usually choose to save the whole clip or just the audio, which is a great choice for music videos and video podcasts. It's easy; it doesn't require owning one of the best laptops, either.
YouTube downloaders can also come in handy in other circumstances. If you have a slow internet connection, you'll find that streaming videos can be a pain. With the right downloader, however, you can set the videos you are interested in to download overnight so they are ready and waiting for you to enjoy in the morning, stutter-free and buffer-free.
Free YouTube downloaders are always changing, but we upgrade this guide frequently so you can be sure that you're always getting up to date advice. If you're specifically interested in saving music from YouTube, you might want to check out our guide to the best YouTube to MP3 software as well.
- How to download YouTube videos for free
Before 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. Downloading videos is also a potential copyright infringement unless you own the video yourself, have permission from the copyright holder, or it's in the public domain.
1. 4K Video Downloader
Fast, free and flexible – the most versatile YouTube downloader
Downloads playlists
4K Video Downloader is the best free tool around for quick, fuss-free YouTube downloads. It's simple to use, highly customizable, ad-free, and doesn't include any bundled extra software.
To grab a video (or a whole playlist, provided it's not longer than 24 videos), simply copy its URL from your web browser, click 'Paste URL' and select an output format, quality and location.
There's a great choice of formats – both video and audio – including MP4 and MP3. You can download captions for individual videos, and there's support for 3D and 360-degree videos too.
Delving into the properties lets you tweak options like multi-stream downloads (increasing the number of streams will speed up downloads, but increases the risk YouTube blocking your IP address) and set up a proxy connection.
Buying a key will let you download longer playlists and playlists with captions, and at £7.95 (about US$10, AU$15) for a lifetime license for three PCs, it's a bargain, but the free edition has everything else you could wish for.
2. WinX YouTube Downloader
Clear, powerful and well designed – a very close runner-up
Can download 4K video
No 360-degree video support
Running a very close second, WinX YouTube Downloader can download videos from all the most popular sites, including Facebook, Vimeo and DailyMotion. It's very easy to use. Just paste in a URL, select an output format and quality setting, and it will be added to the current batch.
Once you've added all the videos you want to download, simply click the 'Download' button and they'll all be processed at once, and saved to the destination folder of your choice.
WinX YouTube Downloader can download 4K video when available, and only loses out to 4K Video Downloader because it's unable to download 3D and 360-degree videos. If this isn't a problem for you, this free YouTube downloader comes highly recommended.
3. Any Video Converter Free
Download and convert videos, and add special effects
Built-in video editor
Bundled extra software
On the face of it, Any Video Converter Free is one of the best YouTube downloaders out there. The only drawback is that the free version of this brilliant program limits you to downloading a single video at a time, but if you're looking for a free solution, this is something you may decide you're happy to put up with.
There are lots of video formats to choose from, and there's even a basic video editor built into this YouTube downloader. This can be used to crop a video you download, add simple effects such as colour adjustment, and add overlay text.
The whole process is quick and easy. Any Video Converter's interface may not be to everyone's liking, but that's really nitpicking; this is a fantastic free YouTube downloader all other respects. Watch out for the bundled ByteFence and Yahoo software during installation, and you're good to go.
4. Free YouTube Download
Auto download option
Three-minute time limit
There are no prizes for guessing what Free YouTube Download does. This is a very simple, tightly focused free YouTube downloader that does away with distractions to get the job done well. Paste in a URL from YouTube and you can download the video in just a couple of clicks – or no clicks at all if you enable the Auto Download option.
You can download several videos at once if you need to, and you can convert to several different formats on the fly. Just which formats are available to you will depend on the quality of the original video, but AVI, MP4, iPhone/iPod and MKV should be available in most cases. It's also possible to convert to audio-only MP3 if you don’t need the footage as well.
There's only one real drawback, but it's a biggie – you can only use Free YouTube Download to grab clips that are less than three minutes long. That rules out most music videos for a start, and is a real shame.
5. aTube Catcher
Download, convert and merge videos as they're playing
Converts to popular formats
Although the name suggests that this is just a YouTube downloader, aTube Catcher can actually save videos from most of the big video hosting sites.
First, however, a word of warning: sneaky adware abounds during the installation. 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.
Downloaded 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. 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 free YouTube downloaders.
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.
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- Check out our guide to the best video editors
5 Best Free Video Converters for Mac
If you are a Mac user, there are a myriad of options when it comes to free video converter for Mac. From the long list, choosing the right program becomes important for hassle-free and quality process. To help you with the same, we have picked the top 5 free video converter Mac.
Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac
Best Video Converter for Mac allows lossless quality conversion and supports almost all types of formats and codecs.
To facilitate professional video conversion at super fast speed, Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac is an ideal choice. This software once installed on your Mac allows converting your videos to an array of formats including audio files. With batch processing, multiple files can be converted to save a lot of your time. The conversion process is super fast and results in lossless quality files. The built-in video editor can be used to cut, crop, trim videos, and add subtitles to the videos before conversion. More to the list are DVD burning, video recording, YouTube video download, and file transfer. For more features and functions, you can even upgrade your free program to the premium version.
How to convert videos to MP4/MP3 Mac using Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac:
Step 1: Open Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac and import video files.
Launch Wondershare video format converter Mac after it is successfully downloaded and installed on your Mac. You'll enter the Convert tab by default. Click the +Add Files button to import local videos. You can also add a complete folder or multiple files at a time to convert video to MP4 or MP3 in batch.
The added files are shown as thumbnails with video details. Under the thumbnail, there are editing icons for trimming, cropping, adding subtitles, and more.
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Step 2: Choose MP4 or MP3 as the output format.
After files are added and edited, click the drop-down menu beside the Convert all tasks to: option on the top-right corner. A pop-up window will appear from where choose the Video tab for MP4 format or the Audio tab for MP3 as your target format.
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Step 3: Convert video to MP4 or MP3 on Mac.
Select the destination folder on this Mac converter at the Output tab. Finally, click Convert All to start processing and converting your added videos to MP4 format or MP3 format.
How to Convert YouTube to MP4/MP3 Mac using Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac:
Using Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac, YouTube files can be directly downloaded and converted to MP4, MP3 and other formats in a click.
Step 1: Copy YouTube video link on Mac browser.
Open YouTube video that you want to download and convert on your Mac browser and copy its link.
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Step 2: Launch Wondershare YouTube Mac converter and select MP3 as default download mode.
Open the installed Wondershare Free Video Converter for Mac on your system. From the primary interface, click the Download tab at the top. On the top-right corner, there is a toggle for Download then Convert Mode. Move the toggle to the right to open a pop-up window. Select MP3 from the Audio format list and choose the quality of the file.
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Step 3: Paste copied link to start downloading YouTube video to MP3 format.
Click on the +Paste URL button that will automatically paste the copied video URL to the interface. After the URL is analyzed, the software will start downloading it in selected MP3 format. The Finished tab will show the downloaded and converted YouTube video.
The converted video can be directly transferred to iTunes library if you have enabled the option 'Automatically add files to iTunes library after conversion' in the Menu > Preferences > Convert.
If you want to know how to convert video to DVD Mac, read the article to learn 10 Useful DVD Burning Freeware for Mac >
Handbrake for Mac
Multi-platform Mac video converter with support to an array of input formats.
Handbrake for Mac is a popular video conversion tool that is compatible with Mac, Windows, as well as Linux system. This free and open source program is simple, fast and easy to use. All popular multimedia formats, as well as DVD and Blu-ray files, are accepted as input by the program. The supported output formats include MP4 and MKV with different encoders. In addition to specific formats, the program also allows conversion to devices including Android, iPhone, Fire TV, and others. To enhance the overall conversion process, additional features include batch scanning, live static and video preview, title and chapter range selection, and others.
Any Video Converter for Mac
Free file converter Mac with support to a wide array of input and output formats.
This Mac video converter tool supports over 100 input formats and 160 output formats for taking care of all your conversion needs. An array of the output device is also supported by the program for conversion including iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire HD, Xbox 360, and others. You can rip audio files from your videos as well as CDs using the software. Some of the supported audio formats include MP3, OGG, WMA, WMV, FLAC, and others. Video download from over 100 sites including popular names like YouTube, DailyMotion, Facebook, and others is supported. Audio files from YouTube can also be downloaded for music playback. The editor of the software allows to crop, join, trim, rotate, add special effects, and perform other editing functions.
Prism Video File Converter for Mac
With the support of more than 100 input formats and 160 output formats, Any Video Converter is safe, fast, and easy to use.
Prism Video File Converter for Mac is a versatile program that allows converting your files between some popular formats. To customize the files, the software allows adding watermarks free. But to trim video or crop video, you need to upgrade to the premium version.
Online-Convert
Online video converter software for Mac without any need for download or installation.
Online Convert is a widely used online tool that allows converting your videos to all popular formats like MP4, 3GP, AVI, FLV, and many others. The program is free to use and can be operated directly from your Mac browser. Thus, there are no hassles of any download or installation process. In addition to local videos, you can also add files from Dropbox, Google Drive, and URL to the interface for conversion. The editing tool of the program allows changing file parameters like frame rate, bit rate, size, audio codec, and others. If you need the similar conversion settings for future files, you can save them as well. The converted file can be easily downloaded from the interface itself.