Join 91mobiles WhatsApp Channel
Easy step-by-step guide for YouTube video download on Android mobile phone, iPhone, Jio Phone, Windows laptop/ PC, and Mac.
With over 2 billion active users, YouTube is the biggest video platform out there. The platform hosts millions of videos, ranging from fun clips to critiques, tutorials, and more. However, even in 2022, patchy internet connectivity can blow a death knell to your favourite videos as buffering those, especially with the 4K and 8K ones, can take a lot of time. Thankfully, the service lets you download YouTube videos for offline viewing on mobile devices. Moreover, desktop downloads for YouTube videos are on the way too! Of course, there are limitations to this, including a limit on the number of days the videos stay on your device. So, to solve that conundrum, there are several apps and online tools to help you download YouTube videos and save them in a mobile gallery and laptop for offline viewing.
If you want to download YouTube videos from the official Android or iOS app, the process is quite simple.
The videos can be downloaded in resolutions going all the way up to 8K and can be downloaded over both mobile and Wi-Fi networks. YouTube videos downloaded on smartphones will expire after 30 days, but won't be deleted from the Downloads folder. That means you will have to download them again after 30 days if you want to re-watch them. Another limitation is that these videos will reside in the official YouTube app only and cannot be shared with others.
Also read: YouTube Vanced discontinued: Best alternatives to YouTube Vanced to watch videos ad-free
To solve the issue of downloading YouTube videos such that they can be shared with others, you can use a number of third-party tools available online. These tools work with any Android or iOS smartphone, and even with the KaiOS-based Jio Phone! The videos saved using these tools are saved locally in the Files folder (you can access them from the mobile gallery as well) of your smartphone and can be played using video apps like MX Player, VLC etc. You can share these videos with your friends via social media apps such as WhatsApp or even via other file transfer methods such as AirDrop, ShareIt etc as well.
Savefrom.net is a popular tool to download YouTube videos on your mobile phones' gallery with a few taps. It is quite a simple tool and lets you download videos in HD resolution.
The video will be saved in the internal storage of your smartphone, and you will be able to view it at your convenience, either via Files folder or mobile gallery app, without the fear of the download expires after 30 days. However, this tool has the limitation of resolution — it struggles to save videos in FHD, 4K, and 8K resolutions.
Some other YouTube video download websites
If the above method doesn't work for you, use these YouTube video download web tools:
- Y2mate: The YouTube video downloader can download thousands of video files for you from the streaming platform. That too for free! The tool can also be used to save videos from Facebook, Video, Dailymotion, Youku, etc. to Mp3, Mp4 in HD quality. The Y2mate is also capable to convert YouTube to mp3.
- VLC media player: In addition to playing videos, you can use the media player to download YouTube videos on Windows PC/ laptop and mac. To do so, open VLC media player (download it from here if you don't have it) --> click on Media from the top menu --> choose the ‘Open Network Stream' option --> paste the YouTube video link you wish to download --> once the video starts playing, click on ‘Tools' --> select ‘Media Information' --> ‘Media Information' and copy the link you find on location. Copy that link and paste it on your browser's search box and look for 'Download' option under the 'three-dot icon.
- Savieo: Another excellent YouTube video download tool. It's ad-free and allows you to download and save videos in mobile gallery with up to 1080p resolution. Savieo can be used to download videos from YouTube online on almost any device using.
If you are looking to download YouTube videos in 4K resolution, you can go with Loader.to. This tool lets you save videos in ultra-crisp 4K and 8K resolution for offline viewing.
This was covered in our separate post, but for your benefit, we'll briefly discuss the ways to download YouTube video on Android phone here as well. In addition to the browser method, Android phone users can download YouTube videos online on mobile using a third-party app, called TubeMate. The app isn't available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. However, Android users can still side-load TubeMate using an APK file. The feature is not available for iPhone users as iOS forbids users to side-load third-party apps. The steps for YouTube video download online on Android mobile phone using Tubemate are as follows:
Youtube video download apps for Android mobile phone that can also be used:
Since you're downloading the apps from third-party websites instead of Google Play Store, make sure what you are agreeing to. Read each and every permission carefully.
4K Video Downloader is among the best third-party YouTube video download apps for PC. The app supports multiple platforms — Windows, Mac, and Linux — and offers quality options, ranging from 240p to 2K. Here's how to use 4K Video Downloader to download YouTube videos on laptop:
Some other YouTube video download apps for Windows laptop and Mac
- Freemake
- iTubeGo
- SnapDownloader (not for mac)
- By Click Downloader
That's it! So these are some of the ways through which you can download YouTube videos on laptop/ PC and mobile phone for offline viewing.
Pretty much every aforementioned YouTube downloaders allow you to save 4K videos online. However, if you are not satisfied with them, you can use SnapDownloader. The 4K YouTube videos download app is available for both Windows-powered laptop and PC, as well as Mac. In addition to 4K videos, it can also be used to download YouTube videos in 8K, QUD, 1080p, and HD.
There is no third-party YouTube video download app for iPhone users at the moment. They can use the aforementioned 'download video from YouTube' and 'YouTube video download online using browser' stated above can be used to download YouTube videos online on iPhone.
Unfortunately, no. YouTube parent company Google doesn't allow any video download extension for Chrome to work on YouTube website or any other YouTube videos embedded in other web pages.
Well, as stated under YouTube's guidelines, the videos published on the website can only be used for streaming. Not to mention that downloading videos for offline/Ad-free playback is depriving content creators of making money through YouTube's AdSense. However, if you MUST download videos, follow the above steps.
YouTube videos support as many as 13 video formats, MOV, MPEG4, MP4, AVI, WMV, MPEGPS, FLV, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm, and HEVC (h265). The MP4 format is quite popular since it works on pretty much every device out there. MOV and AVI respectively are Apple and Microsoft's video format, while the 3GP format has low video quality and considered apt for small-screened mobile phones.
You can share the downloaded YouTube videos online via third-party apps/ website with your friends and family using WhatsApp, Bluetooth, and other file sharing platform. That said, the videos downloaded from YouTube app can only be shared via social messaging platform as a link with the recipients.