Because you’re planning to be somewhere with no Internet connection (say, a plane or a remote mountainous region) or the Wi-Fi is just too slow for smooth streaming, you decide to download YouTube videos for offline viewing at a later time. Here’s how.
To start with, choose a mobile app or web service that lets you save YouTube videos to your device. Popular downloaders include KeepVid, iTube and Freemake Video Downloader. Most of them are cross-platform compatible, which means they can be utilized regardless of the device you have and the operating system installed on it. Most of them also offer their services for free, though some have paid models/subscriptions for added features.
Next, launch YouTube and head to the video that you want to download. Depending on your chosen YouTube downloader, you then have to just copy the video URL and paste it in a text field at your downloader’s website/app. Other downloaders may have different steps on how to save the videos to your device, but they’re probably just as easy to do.
With the video URL at hand, these YouTube downloaders will then provide several download links to the video, each of which varies by format and resolution. You simply have to choose which one is compatible with your device.
If there’s but only one downloadable format for the video—and it happens to be not supported by your device—there are many free online video converters that reproduce the video in a different format. Any Video Converter does the job quite well. Available for Windows and Mac OS X, this free program is a fantastic YouTube downloader itself.
Do note that downloading YouTube videos may violate Google’s terms of use and could lead you to getting banned from the service. Copyright infringement is also a potential problem, so be sure that the videos you download are for personal use only.
