Aug 14,2019 • Filed to: Download YouTube Videos • Proven solutions
YouTube fans are always searching for a best way on how to download YouTube videos on Mac easily and legally. As there are many Mac YouTube downloader or YouTube downloader online services through the Internet, it is a little bit hard to choose the best YouTube downloader for Mac. No worry! Here we share 6 easy ways to help you download videos from YouTube on Mac for free, including download YouTube videos with URL, YouTube download plugin, directly download YouTube from browser Chrome or Safari, download YouTube online, etc. Read on and learn how to download YouTube videos on Mac (macOS 10.14 Mojave,10.13 High Sierra, 10.12 Sierra and 10.11 EL Capitan included).
Quickly download YouTube videos to your Mac! Here are the 10 best free YouTube video downloaders for Mac in 2020! Click to check the full list! Jul 18, 2019 ClipGrab is a simple, free utility for macOS that can download individual YouTube videos and even convert them to other formats, including MP3 if you’re only interested in the audio. It’s easy to use: copy a YouTube URL and open ClipGrab. It will automatically extract the URL from the clipboard. Mar 25, 2017 In dept analysis of the free ways to download youtube videos on Mac OSX. 4K downloader, Clipgrap, download helper and ultimate download manager works. Now click on Record. Start the YouTube video playing (make sure the sound is on). Once the YouTube video has played you can click on the stop button in the menu at the top of the screen.
- Introducing the Best YouTube Client. Built for YouTube Addicts and Power Users! Guaranteed to enhance your YouTube watching experience with;. Set default video quality. Block all YouTube adverts. Pop-out YouTube video player. Set video auto playback. Hide YouTube comments and related videos. Hide annotations by default.
- Sep 21, 2019 BEST Internet Download Manager FREE (Windows 10 & Mac OS) - Duration: 3:08. KilObit 39,259 views. How to Make Money on YouTube Without Making Videos (Weird Niche).
Part 1. Download YouTube Videos Mac in One Click
If you want an easiest way to download videos from YouTube on Mac, we highly recommend you to use iTube HD Video Downloader. This YouTube downloader Mac allows you to download any YouTube videos on Mac for free. You can download YouTube 4K UHD videos, YouTube VEVO, and the whole YouTube playlist.
iTube HD Video Downloader - Download YouTube Videos on Mac with Ease
- Download not only YouTube videos, but also online videos from Facebook, Lynda, Metacafe, Bilibili, FC2, and 10,000+ sites.
- 1 click download YouTube to MP3 format in high quality, or extract audio from a video to any popular audio format.
- Support YouTube HD Video downloading, as well as batch download YouTube playlist and Lynda playlist at the same time.
- Record unable to download videos from Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, CNN, Hollywood videos and any other sites easily.
- Convert videos to any video formats, or directly to optimized preset for iPhone, Android or other devices.
- Transfer downloaded YouTube videos to portable devices with USB connected in order to enjoy on the go.
- Private Mode to download videos in secret with a password known by yourself only protected.
How to Download YouTube Videos Mac
Step 1. Download and launch YouTube downloader for Mac
Download and start installation of iTube YouTube Downloader (macOS High Sierra, Sierra, EL Capitan, Yosemite, Mountain Lion included). It's superb easy to use! After that, launch the YouTube video downloader to its main interface.
Step 2. Download YouTube videos to Mac from extension
Open your browser Safari, Chrome or Firefox and visit YouTube. When you watch a video, you will see the 'Download' icon appearing at the top left corner of the video. And several web pages can be opened to download videos at the same time. Click the 'Download' button and it will start the downloading process for YouTube video automatically.
The download process can be checked in 'Downloading' tab. And in 'Downloaded' tab, you will find downloaded YouTube videos. You can see the downloaded videos on the list by clicking 'Download' menu on the left side of the YouTube Downloader for Mac window. With the built-in FLV player, and right-click the program and choose 'Play' option in drop-down box, you're able to view or play the video.
Optional. Convert YouTube video to any format
To convert downloaded YouTube video, click the 'Add to Convert List' icon on the right side for each video in 'Downloaded' tab. You can add the video to 'Convert' menu by doing this.
Open the 'Convert' menu, and you can convert YouTube videos to iPod, iPhone, iPad and all popular devices. Find the 'Convert' icon on the right of the video, click it. In the window that appears, choose from about 153+ output formats and click 'OK' to start conversion. Then you could switch to the Transfer tab, and easily transfer converted or downloaded YouTube videos to your mobile devices to watch YouTube at anytime.
Video Tutorial on How to Download YouTube Videos Mac
Another easy way to download YouTube to Mac is to use online YouTube downloader like Dovideo. Before we dive into the guide, note that Dovideo not only allows you to download videos from popular video sharing sites, including YouTube, but also acts as an online file converter. The online YouTube downloader supports a wide variety of formats, so if formats are your primary concern, the web-based YouTube downloader for Mac will never disappoint.
Using Dovideo is as easy as pie. The online app’s main page has an entire user interface (all in the same place). Immediately you land on the home page, you’ll get these options instantly: browse your file, specify the format to convert to, enter your e-mail address, and upload and convert your file options.
Step 1. Open the video you’d like to download from YouTube or any other popular video sharing site. Copy its URL and head on to the next step.
Step 2. Go to Dovideo’s main site, and paste the URL in the field provided on the main page.
Step 3. Specify the format in which you’d like your video to be output in.
Step 4. Provide your email so that you can receive the file after it has been converted.
Step 5. Finally convert and save your video. Agree to the app’s terms and click convert.
After a few moments, your video will be ready for offline viewing anytime and anyplace.
Part 3. Download YouTube Videos Mac with 3rd Party Softwares
#1: Download YouTube videos on Mac with Limewire
Step 1. Go to the website of Limewire and you can get the basic version for free. Install and launch the Limewire Mac downloader.
Step 2. Input whatever you want and click search, you'll find lots of files for you to download.
Step 3. Then click 'Explore' when you finished downloading the file, and you will find your download videos on Mac.
You can find and get the file by clicking Download button. What's more, several files can be downloaded at the same time.
#2: Download YouTube Video to Mac with RealPlayer
Alternatively, you can also download the YouTube video clips to your Mac by RealPlayer. Below is a brief guide on how you can start downloading videos from YouTube in just a few clicks.
Step 1. First install RealPlayer to get to RealPlayer YouTube videos Downloader on your Mac.
Step 2. Restart the browser and open the YouTube video you wish to save to your local storage.
Step 3. Click the RealPlayer Downloader button popping up at the top part of your browser.
Step 4. Then tap on “Download This Video” option. Your video will consequently download to Real Player Library.
Youtube Download For Mac Os
As the download continues, it will show up in the RealPlayer Downloader window. That’s all! After some seconds, click on newly downloaded video in the RealPlayer Downloads folder o start viewing the video online!
When I reviewed the video player IINA (see “Prepare for Apple Dropping Old Media Formats with the IINA Video Player,” 6 May 2019), quite a few TidBITS readers took it as an opportunity to vent their frustrations about downloading videos from YouTube. Recent changes in Firefox have broken extensions like DownThemAll, which used to be a handy way to download videos.
There are several reasons you might want to download videos from YouTube. Like most cloud-based things, YouTube videos are ephemeral—they vanish all the time for all kinds of reasons. The uploader might pull a video down, YouTube may remove a video in response to a copyright complaint (sometimes legitimate, sometimes not), and a video might disappear if it runs afoul of YouTube’s ever-changing and seemingly haphazard standards for acceptable content.
But preservation isn’t the only reason people download YouTube videos. For example, they may want to download short clips to use in their videos (honoring the doctrine of fair use, of course). A friend of mine accidentally deleted the “sizzle clip” he slaps on the front of every video in iMovie, and he solved the problem by downloading one of his own videos from YouTube and extracting that clip. Or, you may want to be able to play some YouTube videos in a situation where there’s no Internet access.
Whatever the reason, you don’t have to rely on Firefox to download videos from YouTube. There are several solutions on the Mac, and I review a few of them here.
Note that downloading YouTube videos with a utility other than YouTube’s apps (which require a YouTube Premium subscription) nominally violates YouTube’s terms of service:
You shall not download any Content unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content. YouTube and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the Content.
That said, I’ve never heard of YouTube punishing a user for downloading videos, although using copyrighted material in videos you upload to YouTube could get you in trouble.
The Command-Line Grand Poobah: youtube-dl
Arguably, the greatest of the YouTube downloaders is the public-domain youtube-dl, a command-line utility that powers many apps like the aforementioned IINA. It’s not the friendliest option, but it’s free and powerful.
The project offers instructions for installing youtube-dl. You can use the curl command or rely on Homebrew, a command-line package manager that I strongly recommend—refer to Homebrew’s home page for a one-line command to install it from Terminal. Then, in Terminal, you can enter brew install youtube-dl to install the download utility.
Once you install youtube-dl, type man youtube-dl in Terminal to see its extensive list of options. But all you really need to do to use it is to type youtube-dl URL in Terminal, where URL is the link to the desired YouTube video. That downloads the video in your current directory. Type cd ~/Downloads before running youtube-dl to download the video to your Downloads folder.
You can play the video after you download it with QuickTime or with a third-party player like IINA or VLC.
The developers of youtube-dl issue updates frequently, which is why I recommend installing it with Homebrew. The first time I tried to download a video for this article, I received an error because I hadn’t updated youtube-dl first. Homebrew makes updating easy with the brew update youtube-dl command, which updates both youtube-dl and Homebrew itself, along with all the packages youtube-dl needs to function.
A Free Graphical App: ClipGrab
ClipGrab is a simple, free utility for macOS that can download individual YouTube videos and even convert them to other formats, including MP3 if you’re only interested in the audio.
It’s easy to use: copy a YouTube URL and open ClipGrab. It will automatically extract the URL from the clipboard. Use the Format drop-down menu to choose a format (Original is usually fine if you want video), and click Grab This Clip to download the video. The default download location is your Desktop, but you can change it in the Settings tab.
ClipGrab offers a search tab where you can search for and download videos, but I find it easier to use YouTube’s search engine to find videos and then paste the URL into ClipGrab.
A Setapp Option: Downie
A subscription to Setapp includes several utilities that can download YouTube videos: the torrent client Folx, media players Movist Pro and Elmedia Player, and an app purpose-built for downloading YouTube videos: Downie. (If you’re not a Setapp subscriber, Downie costs $19.99.)
Downie, unlike ClipGrab, is tailor-made for the Mac. You can drag and drop YouTube URLs to Downie’s window or its Dock icon. Downie also comes bundled with a Safari extension, which you enable in Safari > Preferences > Extensions. Once you enable the extension, you can click the Downie icon in Safari’s toolbar to download a video.
In addition to Downie’s simplicity, I like that it downloads subtitles with the video (YouTube automatically generates subtitles for videos). Downie saves subtitles alongside the video as an SRT file. Unfortunately, QuickTime Player doesn’t understand those files, so you need to use a more capable video player like IINA to view them. As long as the SRT file is in the same directory as the video, it works automatically when you play the video in IINA.
Downie can also download an entire YouTube playlist at once. Just drag the playlist URL into Downie and click Playlist to see all the available videos to download. You can then click Add Selected to download the playlist videos.
Download an Entire Channel with 4K Video Downloader
Downie can download an entire playlist, but there’s only one Mac app that I know of that can download an entire YouTube channel: 4K Video Downloader. You can try the app for free (it costs $15 to unlock the entire app). To use it, copy the channel’s URL, open 4K Video Downloader, and click Paste Link to load every video in the channel.
Youtube Download Macos
Even better, when 4K Downloader is running, you can subscribe to a channel to download every new video published on the channel automatically.
Note that if a channel has a lot of videos, it can take a long time to download them all and it may use considerable system resources to do so. Nonetheless, I’ve successfully downloaded entire channels containing hundreds of videos with 4K Video Downloader, making it my favorite utility of the bunch.
4K Video Download can also download subtitles, and it can convert YouTube videos to MP3 audio files. Of course, it downloads individual videos as well.
There you have it: four utilities that you can use to download YouTube videos in macOS. Do you have another favorite? Let us know in the comments.