HOW TO DOWNLOAD VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE

Saving YouTube video as a video file on your computer

Today, there are many online websites that allow you to enter the URL of the video you want to save to your computer, and get a link to download the file. Below is a simple three step process that to download any YouTube video.

1. Go to any YouTube video page and copy the URL of the video you want to save. For example, the address below is the URL of a video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ymHMgFAps

2. Once this address has been copied, paste that URL into the URL text field below and click the Download Video button.

3. If done properly, a new window will appear showing a preview of the video (as shown below) with the Download links. For most users we suggest downloading the MP4 format, other formats may include FLV, 3GP, and WebM.

After the file has been downloaded it will be available in your downloads folder.

What about a private video?

You cannot download private videos because the YouTube download service will not have the necessary rights to access the video.

I still cant download a video

If after following the above steps you do not get a preview like our example make sure that the link your are using works by opening the page in a new window. Once verified as working try the above steps again. If the steps continue to not work try one of the other YouTube download sites below.

Note: If you are at a school or job who is blocking YouTube these steps may not work.

It is only saving as audio and not video

Make sure you are choosing the "MP4 360p or 720p" option from the download link. If you choose "Audio MP4" it only downloads the audio and not the video. If you did choose the right downloaded link to download the file, it is very likely that the player you are using does not have the necessary codec for video files. Download the free VLC player for your computer and try to play the video file from within VLC and not the player you are currently using.