If you have a long flight or are traveling with an internet connection, it might be a good idea to download some YouTube videos for offline entertainment. Luckily, this is pretty easy, so you can get your media fix anywhere. There are two ways to download videos: through the YouTube app or a third-party tool. Downloading via the YouTube app requires a YouTube Premium subscription, while third-party tools are free but come at a cost for convenience and reliability.
Notice on copyrighted content
Downloading a video through the official YouTube app is allowed under YouTube’s Terms of Service as the video cannot be viewed outside of the app and you do not have access to the file. However, if you download a YouTube video through a third-party tool, you must respect YouTube’s Terms of Service (ToS) and copyright law. First, you are violating YouTube’s Terms of Service; YouTube may suspend or terminate your account if found to be in violation. Second, you need to make sure you are not infringing on copyright. Videos that can be legally downloaded include:
How to download a YouTube video on an Android smartphone or tablet
YouTube Premium
Downloading a video through YouTube requires a YouTube Premium subscription if you don’t live in one of these countries. This subscription costs $11.99/month for individuals or $17.99 for up to 5 people in the same household and includes a variety of benefits like a YouTube Music subscription. Whether you need a premium subscription or not, the process is exactly the same. While this is the easiest way to download a YouTube video, you cannot access your video outside of the app. This requires a third-party tool.
TubeMate is one of many services that you can use to download YouTube videos. However, if you decide not to use TubeMate, be aware that not all of these services are trustworthy and may expose you to the risk of downloading malware.
TubeMate
Download TubeMate App via APKMirror.
Open the YouTube app.
Open the video you want to download.
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How to Download a YouTube Video on Chromebook
Unfortunately, there is no reliable third-party tool to download YouTube videos to Chromebook. There are websites that provide a download tool, but they are often legally denied by Google. The safest way to download the video through a third party is to use the TubeMate method above and then transfer the downloaded file to your Chromebook.
YouTube Premium Videos
As with Android, downloading a video from YouTube on Chromebook requires a premium subscription. We used the official YouTube app for this walkthrough, but the steps to download a video using Chrome are almost identical.
Open the YouTube app on your Chromebook.
Click on the video you want to download.
Click the Download button below the video.
Choose a download quality. If you haven’t already subscribed to YouTube Premium, you’ll be prompted to sign up here.
How to download a YouTube video on Windows 10 or Windows 11
Downloading a YouTube video follows the same steps for Windows 10 and Windows 11. There are many programs that offer the ability to download videos, but 5KPlayer strikes an excellent balance between usability, download speed, and video quality. Don’t be alarmed if it asks for your name and email address, this is not required for downloading YouTube videos.
Download and install 5KPlayer for Windows.
Click the red YouTube button.
Open the YouTube video you want to download and copy the URL.