Download YouTube videos in 4K with the best free software
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.
There are many sites that you can use to download YouTube videos, but we don't recommend them due to their disadvantages over desktop software. First of all, they're slower due to the limitations of the remote server and your data connection. Many such sites also feature ads of an NSFW variety, or display thumbnails of recently downloaded videos, which may not be appropriate.
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Online video converters typically don't give you much (if any) choice about the video file either, in terms of quality or expert format. They only allow you to download a single video at a time, and you can forget about saving whole playlists. 3D and 360-degree videos are also out of the question, and very few can handle 4K.
It's a consistently difficult challenge to watch your favorite YouTube videos without having a Premium subscription that enables this for a fee. This is where a free downloader on a smartphone, Mac, or Windows PC comes in.
The process of having a video from YouTube is surprisingly easy - it mainly involves taking the video's URL, and then using one of the websites below to download it. But if you only want the audio, we do have a free YouTube to MP3 converter guide instead.
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Currently, our top choice for downloading videos from YouTube is the 4K Video Downloader, which can do the job without leaving a watermark, compared to other apps. However, there are other apps that you can look into that do the same job, which we've highlighted below.
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 of 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.
At first glance, Any Video Converter Free is one of the best free YouTube downloaders out there. The only drawback is that this free version limits you to download 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 color 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 in all other respects. Watch out for the bundled ByteFence and Yahoo software during installation, and you're good to go.
There are billions of hours of video on YouTube, literally. And that's hardly the most astounding statistic about the site, which has been the go-to destination for uploading and watching videos online since 2005. That said, sometimes you really want or need to have one of those videos on your own computer or phone. But when the topic of downloading YouTube videos comes up, there's a side subject that must be broached: Is it legal?
On the copyright front, as long as you're downloading a video for your own personal offline use, you're probably okay. It's more black and white when you consider Google's terms of service for YouTube(Opens in a new window), which read: "You are not allowed to...access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the respective rights holders."
Obviously, stealing videos from YouTube is a big no-no. If you want to share a video, YouTube and most other video sites make it easy, from embedding to emailing to sharing via social networks. You simply do not need to download a video most of the time.
The biggest issue is, this feature doesn't really download a video to save on your computer forever. It is more akin to the download feature found on mobile apps for Netflix and Hulu, which makes a streaming video available to watch later using your local storage using the app's interface only. This is not a method that allows you to, say, watch a video using different software such as the VLC Media Player or Plex.
You access the download by going to the YouTube hamburger menu and selecting Downloads (Opens in a new window)to view the list of what you've grabbed. The page says "Downloads remain available as long as your device has an active internet connection at least once every 30 days." This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for in a download; read on for tools that are a better fit.
In the past, YouTube videos were Flash-based, so your download was an FLV file, but those tend to be harder to play back. MP4 (short for MPEG-4 Part 14 multimedia format(Opens in a new window)) files can play anywhere
VLC Media Player(Opens in a new window) is a fantastic tool for Windows, Mac, and Linux users that plays back just about any media ever created. It also has the ability to download YouTube videos, albeit in a convoluted way. (If you run into any problems, try a full re-install of VLC and clear your cache to make it work.)
It appears that VLC saves your file as 1080p only and not any higher, even if the original YouTube stream was available in 1440p or 2160p (aka 4K). It also won't convert video to other formats. To get those options, you need the desktop software below.
Multi-lingual 4K Video Downloader(Opens in a new window) (4KVD) is frequently updated and features clear download links on the program's website; no ad traps here. The software does what it advertises in a simple interface: It grabs videos up to 8K in quality and downloads to plenty of formats. Simply copy a YouTube URL and click the Paste Link button to get started. 4KVD will even collect subtitles, entire playlists, and all the videos in a channel to which you subscribe. The sites supported are limited to the big names, including YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and a few others, but that should cover most of what you need. It does display a large banner advertisement to keep the lights on with the free version, which is also limited to 30 downloads a day.
When I tried it, I had to make a switch from MP4 to MKV format to get my test video to download in 4K. 4KVD snagged a 3-minute, 229.7MB file for a movie trailer in about 1 minute and 20 seconds. I made the same switch when downloading an Ultra High Definition (8K) playlist(Opens in a new window).
When you enable the Smart Mode and its presets, 4KVD can perform one-click downloads to your favorite format. If you want to download more than 30 videos per day or subscribe to YouTube channels to instantly download(Opens in a new window) the latest, you'll need the paid version. Playback of the resulting MKV files via VLC Media Player is flawless.
The program has the option to extract audio to MP3 format, so you don't even need the 4K YouTube to MP3(Opens in a new window) companion software. But if that's your thing, it's the same price as 4KVD.
The powerful VideoProc from Digiarty comes in an editor edition and this converter(Opens in a new window), which also provides editing and effects and, of course, handles a lot of downloading, supporting 4K from over 1,000 websites, including TikTok. With hardware acceleration(Opens in a new window), it promises some speed. Thankfully, Digiarty frequently offers price discounts: In fact, the price has dropped a lot on the one-year license; it's currently(Opens in a new window) just $25.95.
To use it, let the software detect your hardware to see what will help with acceleration (if anything). Click the Downloader button, click Add video to place as many URLs as you want to batch, and then click on Download Now. Or grab a whole YouTube playlist or live stream.
VideoProc grabbed our 697MB test 4K video(Opens in a new window) to WEBM format in about 2 minutes and 15 seconds, which isn't bad. The trial version of VideoProc Converter, which limits conversions to 5 minutes, doesn't appear to limit downloads.
FlixGrab(Opens in a new window) offers several different programs, many with overlapping features. For example, FlixGrabMS is available in the Microsoft Store(Opens in a new window) for Windows 10 and 11 machines, but it wouldn't let me grab video from YouTube. The straight download of the FlixGrab program from flixgrabapp.com did work with YouTube and several other sites. It also offers a Free YouTube Downloader(Opens in a new window) that is specific to YouTube yet has the same easy-to-use interface.
Do you want to avoid installing software? Video-download helper sites are meant to do the download work for you. All of them do one basic thing: You give them a YouTube URL (or another video site, if supported), and they parse it, give you a choice of what size download you want, and provide a link to said download. The sites work on any platform, sometimes even on mobile devices. You don't have to install anything on your PC. It can take a lot longer to get a download, depending on the size and quality of the video you want, but you can't beat the convenience.