youtube how to download mp4 of your uploaded video How to Download YouTube Videos. Hours of footage is uploaded to YouTube every second. What if you want to download it? In some circles, that's considered a big no-no, but you have your reasons, right? Here's how. 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 video 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, which reads: "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." Watching YouTube videos offline through unofficial channels takes money from Google and video creators. There's a reason YouTube runs ads: people make a living this way. Obviously, stealing video 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. However, you have your reasons. If you must download a YouTube video—absolutely need to, just for yourself, and not for dissemination, and not to be a total douche-nozzle—here's how. Note: This story is updated frequently as the tools involved change regularly. Some of those changes are not always pleasant, such as software so full of "extras" it gets flagged as malware by antivirus tools. The same goes for the helper websites—a change in a site's ad network can also create issues with malware. To prevent this from becoming a laundry list of programs and sites that can download YouTube videos, we came up with a few rules for inclusion. Services must: Support 4K downloads even in the free version. Work with top three video sites: YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo . Download entire playlists or channels in a batch (on YouTube), at least with a paid version. Output to MP3 for audio (or offer companion software that does so). Have an interface that doesn't suck . Not collect your personal data beyond your email address. Not contain malware . If there's even a whiff of it in the air, even a PUP, it's out. The programs, services, and sites in this story are all free of spam/virus/problems as of this writing , but caveat emptor. Big time. Especially if you're not really emptor-ing. Desktop Software. Third-party software is where you will get the best control over downloading online videos. Typically, you paste the URL for the YouTube video you want into the program, and it downloads the highest quality version it can find. For videos in 1080p High Definition (HD) format, that's usually an MP4 file. For anything higher in quality—4K and even 8K videos—the file format is typically MKV. 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, plays everywhere. Note that the MKV file, also called a Matroska, is a container—the file could contain video utilizing any number of codecs inside. The fool-proof way to play them all is to use the VLC Media Player for Windows, which plays everything. (Read more about it below.) As for the downloaders, here are the best options. VLC Media Player. Free ; Windows, macOS, Linux. We mentioned the VLC Media Player above because it's a fantastic tool for Windows users that plays back just about any media ever created. It turns out, it also has the ability to download YouTube videos, albeit in a convoluted way. (If you run into any problems with it, you may need to do a full re-install of VLC and clear your cache to make this work.) Copy a URL from a YouTube video, then open up VLC. From the Media menu select Open Network Stream (Ctrl+N) and paste in the URL. Click Play . When the video is playing, go to Tools > Codec Information . There is a box at the bottom called "Source"—copy the URL you find in that box. Go back to your browser and paste the URL—it's a temporary web address and will expire eventually—in the address bar and start playing the video. When you're viewing the video in the browser, you'll see an option to download the file to keep locally. However, it appears that VLC is only going to save your file as 1080p 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. 4K Video Downloader. Free or $15 for lifetime license on 3 computers ; Windows, macOS, Ubuntu Linux. Multi-lingual 4K Video Downloader (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: grabs videos up to 8K in quality and downloads to plenty of formats. Just copy a YouTube URL and click the Paste Link button to get started. 4KVD will even grab subtitles, entire playlists, and all the videos in a channel to which you subscribe. The sites supported are limited to the big names like YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and a few others, but covers most of what you need. It does display a large banner advertisement at the bottom to keep the lights on. In tests, I had to make a switch from MP4 to MKV format to get my test video to download in 4K. 4KVD snagged the 3-minute duration, 229.7 Megabyte (MB) file for the movie trailer in about 1 minute and 20 seconds. 4KVD defaults back to 1080p HD, so I made the same switch when downloading an Ultra High Definition (8K) playlist. If you enable the Smart Mode and its pre-sets, 4K Video Downloader can perform one-click downloads to your favorite format. If you want to download more than 25 videos at a time or subscribe to YouTube channels to instantly download the latest, that requires the paid version. Playback of the resulting MKV files via VLC Media Player was flawless. The program itself has an option to extract audio to MP3 format, so you don't even need the 4K YouTube to MP3 companion software. WinX YouTube Downloader. Digiarty's multi-lingual WinX claims to allow downloads from 300+ sites with user-generated content—including adult sites. Perhaps the biggest selling point of all is the claim that "There is no malware, adware, spyware or virus. 100% clean." It has a clean interface, but there are ads for WinX's premium service during install. Copy a YouTube URL (even for a playlist) and launch the WinX software. The "analyzer" checks all the options. This tool tried to default to the 1,920-by-1,080 version in MP4; I picked the 4K version (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) in WebM format, a subset of the MKV format—you can rename a .WEBM file to a .MKV and it'll work fine. In settings there are options to default to WebM at the highest resolution. You can set up a number of videos to back up before you even click the download button. The 4K 226.9MB file took 2 minutes and 19 seconds to download. There are no options for downloading closed captions. That's another strike. But WinX makes up for it by supporting so many download sites and having a price equal to nothing. 5KPlayer. Free ; Windows and macOS. The free 5KPlayer is a lot more than a downloader, but it's got a heck of an integrated downloader. Promising no viruses, ads, or plug-in requirements is a good start. It is, sadly, one of the few I tested that asks for a registration of your name and email—you have to do that to get the full download function across 300+ sites. However, you can still nab 4K vids from YouTube without registering. When downloading, the program does try to hide some things. Paste in the URL for a YouTube video and the analysis engine runs and shows only a few download options. Click the Gear icon, then the Show All button and scroll to see more—like a 4K 3,840-by-2,160 file in WebM format. The 227MB WebM test download took a painful amount of time, about 6.5 minutes. Grabbing playlists was possible, but you must adjust download settings one video at a time. The confusing interface makes it hard to go back to the other videos in the playlist. 5K Player also features DLNA server playback so videos you grab can be watched on any devices that support DLNA; and it supports AirPlay for quick playback to supported devices. Pick a video in the library for a quick conversion to MP4, MP3, or even ACC (the audio format preferred by iOS devices). The player didn't like playing back the overly large 4K file, though, and experienced buffering issues (VLC didn't have any problem with the same file). But ultimately, there's a lot to like about 5K Player, from the price to the features, especially if you look at them as extras on a downloader. But interface and playback issues may have you looking elsewhere. ByClickDownloader. $19.99 premium after trial ; Windows only. ByClickDownloader (previously called YouTubeByClick) captures video from over 40 sites. Before you even do the first download, you can use the "dials" on the interface to set up a preferred download format (MP4 video or MP3 audio) and a default download quality as high as 8K, even on the free version. Downloading a 229.6MB MKV file in 4K only took 2.5 minutes—not bad considering the free version's 2Mbps speed limit. You also need the premium version to download playlists and channels, do conversions, avoid ads, and get closed captions. One thing you can do on ByClickDownloader that's unique is set it up so any time you copy a URL from YouTube, the program will auto detect it and ask if you want to start the download. Enter your account credentials for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and a couple of other foreign sites to get instant private downloads. Helper Websites. Do you want to avoid installing software? Video download helper sites are supposed to do the download work for you. All of them do one basic thing: you give them a YouTube URL (or other video site, if supported), they parse it, give you a choice of what size download you want, and provide a link to said download. They 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, depending on the size and quality of the video you want, but you can't beat the convenience. The problem is, you can't always trust them. There are hundreds of these types of sites out there—it seems anyone with a modicum of coding ability has set one up. Such sites easily go from useful to suspicious, especially if they get popular and the proprietor sells out to make cash off your visits. Since this story was first published, five helper sites we recommended have been removed—one for adding sexually explicit ads; two for no longer working; one that only wants you to download its utility now; and one for going out of business to avoid getting sued. At least one we liked (KeepVid.ch) no longer appears to work, but it has a slew of domain-name clones like KeepVid.id, Keepvid.works, etc., which appear totally unrelated. For that reason, we're not recommending any helper site at the moment. It may not hurt to try one you find, but if your browser, antivirus, or instincts throw up warnings, avoid and move on. Extensions. A browser extension can save you a step. However, you're going to run into some issues with downloading video from YouTube, especially if you're using Chrome as your primary browser. The Chrome Web Store—where you get Chrome browser extensions—is controlled by YouTube's owner Alphabet/Google. Even an extension ostensibly for this purpose isn't going to allow YouTube direct downloads, because of Chrome Store restrictions. In general, with Chrome extensions, the download of any RTMP protocol video (protected videos) or streaming video isn't possible. You can use them on other sites with video, of course. Just not YouTube. Want to get around it? Get an extension that does not come from the Google Web Store. Some of the programs and helper sites offer an extension component and will spell out how to do the install without the assistance the Chrome Web Store usually provides. Here are a few. YouTube Video Downloader. Free ; Chrome, Opera, Edge, Vivaldi. YouTube Video Downloader from Addoncrop is also on multiple browsers but with excellent side-load capabilities to avoid the watchdogs in the stores. It puts a button below whatever video you're playing on YouTube, making it easy to grab as a video up to 4K or as an audio-only MP3. Video DownloadHelper. Free ; Firefox, Chrome, Edge. Video DownloadHelper supports a huge number of sites—even those for adults. You'll know a video is downloadable when the icon for the extension animates when you're on the webpage. Video DownloadHelper for Chrome has stopped working with YouTube—so it could get placement in the Chrome Web Store. You can get around that by using the Video DownloadHelper extension for Firefox. The developer has a Kiva initiative page, where it prefers you donate funds to those in need; it's raised over $177,225. Mobile. Remember that problem of using Chrome extensions from the Google Web Store? You're going to have an even bigger issue when you want to download from YouTube using an Android app from the Google Play Store, where Google has an even tighter grip (and a paid YouTube Premium service that supports offline viewing). That said, with Android it is possible to install apps without going through Google. For example, InsTube – Free Video and Music Downloader for Android can only be found at InsTube's site. Download the APK (Android application package) file to sideload on an Android device. Find it in your device's downloads and click to install. (You may have to go into your security settings and enable "Unknown sources.") On iPhones and iPads, you'd think there would be no such restriction since Apple and Google aren't exactly the best of pals. But on the apps I have tried, not only wouldn't they download from YouTube, they're not even available for long. One of those apps said in its description, "downloading from YouTube is prohibited due to its Terms of Service." Apple is ensuring that app makers play by the rules—even Google's rules. Chances are, the minute you find an iOS app that can download YouTube videos, it will get "fixed" or banned. The only real option is to jailbreak your iPhone and use sideloaded apps that download what you want. There are workarounds. One is using a free iOS file manager app like Documents by Readdle. Use the Safari browser to visit a YouTube video, and use the Share option to find Copy Link. Then go back to Documents, and use the built-in browser in the app to surf to a video download helper site. Paste the link into the form (hold your finger down on it until you get the "Paste" menu to pop up). The site will give you the links to download, and you can save the file to Documents. Hold and drag the file up, until you're back on the main screen, then drag it to the Photos folder. You'll need to give Documents permission to access Photos the first time. You can then access the video like you would any video taken on the phone or tablet—in the Photos app. Another workaround: Go back to the desktop and try AnyTrans ($39.99 for a single computer, Windows or macOS), a desktop file manager for iOS devices that has an integrated downloader supporting 900 sites, including YouTube and Facebook. It'll transfer the videos to the iPhone for you over the USB cable. Even if you don't pay for AnyTrans, the download option remains and is free forever. YouPost. Want a truly unique way to "download" a video? Developer Anton Gera created the YouPost extension for the Google Chrome browser to turn a YouTube video into an "article." It grabs all the subtitles, in whatever language you prefer, and places them into a browser page with select screen grabs from the videos as illustration. If the video doesn't have subtitles, it's not going to work. The better the subtitles, the better the article, of course; auto-generated subtitles come in like run-on sentences by someone who doesn't really speak the language. How to Download Your Own YouTube Videos. Bryan has worked in journalism and publishing for more than 15 years. For the last 10 years, he's covered the technology beat, including gadgets, social media, security, and web culture. Before working as a freelancer, Bryan was the Managing Editor for The Next Web. These days he spends his time at a number of publications, both online and off, including The New York Times, Popular Science, and The Next Web, among others. Read more. YouTube makes uploading videos easy. Downloading them is another story altogether. Here’s how you can download any video you’ve ever uploaded to YouTube. How to Download a Single YouTube Video. From the YouTube homepage, click your profile image at the top-right corner of the screen. If you don’t see your Google profile image, you’ll need to sign in. Near the top of the list, click the “YouTube Studio” option. Choose “Videos” from the sidebar on the left. Hover over any video to bring up a menu. Click “Options,” at the end of the menu (the three vertical dots). Click “Download.” YouTube should immediately start to download an mp4 version of your uploaded video. For those who want to download a single video or two, this is all you need. But if you have a library of hundreds, perhaps thousands of uploaded videos, there’s a better way. How to Download Multiple All Your YouTube Videos at Once. To download all your YouTube videos at once, head over to Google Takeout. Here, you can access all of your Google data. You can export everything from Android configuration files to your search history all from one place. Click “Deselect All,” assuming it’s just YouTube videos you’re after. Scroll to the bottom of the page. There you’ll find “YouTube and YouTube Music.” Check the box next to this option. Click “All YouTube Data Included” to open a list of the files you can export. Check or uncheck what you’d like to save. In this case, we’ll choose “Deselect All,” and just check the option at the bottom for “Videos.” Click “OK” to close the window. Click the “Next Step” button. Choose your delivery method and your export frequency. Google can send you a download link for your videos, or there’s the option to automatically stow them away inside of Google Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud storage services. You can also choose to “Export Once” or “Export Every 2 Months For 1 year” from this menu. Choose a file type and the size of your download. If you have several videos, you have the option to split them into files as small as 1GB. File types include .zip and .tgz. Click the “Create Export” button to finish. Google will prepare the videos and offer you a download link. YouTube doesn’t offer an official way to download other people’s YouTube videos—not unless you want to download them offline in the YouTube app to watch them later. That requires a YouTube Premium subscription. How to Download your YouTube Videos. While there are quite a few software tools and apps available that let you download videos from YouTube for offline watching, you don’t really need them anymore if you are looking to download your own videos from the YouTube website. The easiest way to download an individual YouTube video is through the Video Manager. While you are logged into YouTube, click your email address on the upper right and choose “Video Manager” from the menu. Now click the Edit button next to any YouTube video that you wish to download and choose “Download MP4” to download that video as an MPEG-4 file. Download your YouTube videos in MP4 format. Download YouTube Videos in High Resolution. This method has been around for a while now but a big limitation is that the quality of the downloaded videos isn’t the same as your original clips. Your 720p and 1080p HD video will be saved at 480p. If this limitation has been keeping you from hosting any of your videos on YouTube, worry no more. You now have an option to download all your YouTube videos in their original resolution - whether its SD or HD. Here’s how: Go to google.com/takeout and click the Create Archive button. Google will now create a zipped archived with all the videos that you have ever uploaded to YouTube. Once the archive says 100%, proceed to the Downloads tab to grab the actual files. If the archive is large, Google Takeout will split them into individual files of 2 GB each. The downside is that you have to download the entire archives - there’s no option to download individual video in high resolution. That said, if you are planning to copy videos from YouTube to Vimeo or another video hosting service but don’t have access to the source video files, you’ll find this new option extremely handy. How to Upload MP4 to YouTube Fast. YouTube has become the go to website to share videos of all genres whether it is movie trailers or DIY videos. YouTube is also becoming a famous platform for many tutors, makeup gurus and designers to share their skills and reach a wide range of audience. The satisfaction that you get from sharing your knowledge with others gives you an unexplainable feeling of self-achievement. If you wish to join the long list of YouTubers and share your unique and entertaining videos, keep reading to find out how to upload MP4 to YouTube . Part 1. How to Upload MP4 to YouTube Fast Part 2. Best Assistant to Upload YouTube Videos Part 3. Common Issues on Uploading MP4 to YouTube. Part 1. How to Upload MP4 to YouTube Fast. Step 1: Sign in to the account that is connected to the channel on which you want to upload the video. Step 2: Go to your homepage. On the top right hand corner of the screen there will be an Upload button located to the right of the search bar. Click on that. Step 3: Click on "Select Files to upload". A window will open from which one can choose the file preferred to upload on YouTube. An alternate method to this step is dragging and dropping the video of choice into the square shaped box in the YouTube page. Step 4: Make sure that the channel being used has been verified via SMS, or else uploads will be limited to 15 minutes. If the account is verified, then nothing to worry. Once the file has been uploaded, it will automatically initiate the loading process and will open a page in which the details of the video can be entered. Step 5: Enter the required details for the video, the video description, tags for users to easily search, etc. Step 6: Select the preferred privacy setting. If the privacy setting is selected as Public, then everyone can view and search the videos. Step 7: Once all the changes are done, hit on the Publish button, and the video is now live! Part 2. Best Assistant to Upload YouTube Videos. If you have inquiry for downloading video or converting video to other format before uploading to YouTube, here offers you tutorial of how to download and convert videos. iTube Studio is a great video downloader that can make YouTube videos much easier. It can 3X faster download videos from any online video sharing sites, such as YouTube, Gamespot, Teachertube, Syfy, Glide, TMZ, Vimeo, Facebook, and 10000 more sites. It has the ability to covert the videos into a variety of formats so you will not have trouble to enjoy YouTube videos on any platform. See more wonderful features of iTube studio like: Support batch download with a “Download All” button; One click download all videos from YouTube playlist, channel, and category; Preset for devices like iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android devices, media players, and more; Allow you to download video with just the video URL; The built-in player allows you to play a variety of media formats and supports URL streaming, which enables you to watch online video in the player instead of a browser. Step-by-Step Guide to Download Videos. What You Will Need: A Computer; iTube Studio for Mac. Time Required: Very fast (Variable depending on the video file size) Difficulty: Step 1. Open iTube Studio and Download Video in One Click. Option 1. Go to Find the Video You Want. When mouse hovers over the videos you are now viewing, you can see a “Download” button. Click on it to start the download. Option 2. Download Videos by URL. You can also copy the video URL and go back to the program interface to click the “Paste URL” button. Option 3. Download Videos by Recording. You can use “Record video” button to open the recording screen that you can set to the video or full-screen and begin recording. Step 2. Convert the Video to MP4 Format. Once you have downloaded a video, it is listed under the ‘Downloaded’ button, where there is also a tab titled ‘Convert’ next (to the right) to the video. Selecting this tab will lead you to another prompt for selecting the format of the output you want. Follow the prompts and convert your file. Part 3. Common Issues on Uploading MP4 to YouTube. Publishing a YouTube video can be a really exciting experience. This is because through the video, you share a piece of you for the world to see. Just like how one comes across potholes on the road, there are certain glitches that can pop up when uploading videos to YouTube. 1. Video takes very long time to upload. Reason: This problem mainly occurs because the internet speed is slow or because there is some other data consuming internet activity taking place. Solution: Make sure that all other activities have been halted until the video is completely uploaded. This can end up in shorter durations of upload time. 2. The error message “The server has rejected the file” pops up. Solution: Make sure that the browser being used is up to date with the latest version. At certain times, older versions can cause trouble when uploading. 3. Sometimes YouTube doesn’t accept even MP4 sending an error message saying, “ERROR. Server failed to respond within setting time”. Reason: MP4 is a container format for video, but the audio and video codec might vary. Or else, you might have added the background audio that is not of a specific code. Solution: Make sure to use iTube studio to convert the video to MP4 again. 4. The error message “An error has occurred while sending data over the network”. Reason: This could be because the file size is too large, your internet is too slow or your connectivity is experiencing a small problem. Solution: Attempt to plug the computer to the internet modem with a cable, instead of connecting it wirelessly. If that doesn’t work, momentarily deactivate Anti-virus and anti-spyware software in the computer. 5. The error message “An error has occurred while reading the uploaded file”. Reason: This problem may arise when the video is saved on an external drive, for instance USB or external hard disk. Solution: Save the video in the computer before initiating the upload process. Tips and Tricks for Uploading MP4 to YouTube. Uploading MP4 to YouTube site is quite a common thing. Whereas, sometimes we can't upload MP4 to YouTube correctly although MP4 is one of the supported format of YouTube. In this article, we will talk about the possible reasons why we can't share MP4 video to YouTube sometimes and offer you a quick workaround to fast solve MP4 to YouTube uploading issues. Part I. Now in the first part, let's talk about the possible reasons why MP4 can't be uploaded to YouTube: Reason 1: MP4 Codec is not Supported by YouTube. According to YouTube Official Website, YouTube can only support MPEG-4/H.264 video and AAC audio, but MP4 is a complex video container with various video and audio codecs. When MP4 video that you want to upload contains YouTube unsupported codecs, YouTube will reject your MP4 video file. Reason 2: The MP4 file is too long or large to upload to YouTube. By default, you can upload videos that are 15 minutes long. To upload longer videos, you may need to trim long MP4 video into smaller parts so as to share on YouTube without limit. Reason 3: MP4 is broken. MP4 Video content will not be correctly accepted by YouTube, if there is an error in the content or the container. There are a lot of reasons that result in a broken MP4 video some of the reasons include; bad file header, inappropriate storage media, and many others. As you see, to upload MP4 files to YouTube without hassle, you need to take a little up front time and set up a workflow that will convert and tweak MP4 into a file that YouTube likes. Part II. Best Software to convert MP4 to YouTube best format. Brorsoft Videomate is a professional MP4 to YouTube converter allowing you to change your incompatible MP4 files to compatible format with YouTube site for uploading with fast speed while delivering exquisite picture. Besides, before converting your movies, you can use the built-in video editor to trim the videos into multiple segments with short duration and personalize the videos to achieve a better overall effect. If the file is too large, you can also compress videos for YouTube with this smart tool. More notably, for those who are not professional with video format, you needn't study much about your file format, this top MP4 video converter for YouTube furnishes output profiles for YouTube, thus enabling you to directly convert MP4 to YouTube for further uploading in simple clicks. If you want to upload MP4 files to YouTube on Mac(macOS High Sierra), please turn to Brorsoft Videomate for Mac. Part III. Tutorial on Converting MP4 for uploading to YouTube. Step 1: Upload videos to the converter. After launching this MP4 to YouTube converter software, please go to Add button to import videos under "Converter" page. Step 2: Select output format YouTube. Go to the "Format > Web" category and select the "YouTube" format. This will have your video converted to the format best for uploading to YouTube. The H264 will be used as its video codec and the AAC as its audio codec. Step 3: Tweak the MP4 Video for YouTube. A. You can press the Settings button to adjust the video size, bitrate, frame rate, audio sample rate, etc to optimize the quality. The highest video resolution that YouTube support is 3840*2160. And the common frame rates for YouTube include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60 frames per second. B. Click "Edit" button and you can trim, crop or adjust the video with the built-in video editor to get the very part and effect of the movie you want. Here, to cut long MP4 video, just turn to "Trim" tab to cut the MP4 videos into smaller parts to get the very part you want. Step 4: Start conversion. Click "Start" button to start encoding MP4 for uploading to YouTube. After the conversion, click "Open" button to get the exported files and then upload the converted MP4 files into YouTube for sharing with your friends, families, and fans.