If the thought of a long machine journey or bedtime without a connection to the internet leaves you trembling with fear, at that place's a solution. You tin download those YouTube videos your kids (or you) love to sentinel to play back offline. Here's how to save YouTube videos on your Mac, so they can be watched without an internet connection.

Before nosotros commencement, we have to point out that you lot should be aware of copyright issues. Firstly, yous shouldn't download someone else'south video and then, for instance, upload information technology to your own YouTube aqueduct or utilise information technology to promote your business. You lot should also note that downloading YouTube videos goes against YouTube's terms of service. The company specifies that "You shall non download any Content unless y'all come across a 'download' or similar link displayed by YouTube."

Of class if it's for your own individual use it's unlikely that YouTube will ever know.

Beneath nosotros will look at some solutions for downloading YouTube video to your Mac. Join united states of america as nosotros seek the all-time YouTube downloader for Mac.

How to download YouTube videos on a Mac: Record YouTube

YouTube Premium

  • $11.99/£11.99 a calendar month, 1-month free trial
  • Become it hither

It's worth mentioning here that YouTube offers its own YouTube Premium service that allows you to download YouTube videos. That service costs $11.99/£xi.99 per calendar month and along with beingness able to download video you lot tin as well avoid ads, heed to YouTube Music Premium (and Google Play Music). And you get to sentry YouTube Originals, which include movies and series that are only available on the subscription service.

Even so, if you were hoping that you'd be able to download the video to your Mac you will be disappointed. YouTube Premium only lets subscribers download video and music on to mobile devices, and it volition only be available to watch offline for xxx days.

This would be the most legitimate way to download YouTube video. But if you don't want to pay £143.88/$143.88 a year for the privilege, at that place are thankfully other solutions.

Best Free YouTube downloader for Mac

There are loads of tools that advertise their ability to save YouTube videos to your Mac. Some of these options are free and some are paid for. In our feel the free apps are normally more problem than they are worth and potentially dangerous. (If you see a warning that you need to install Flash, for instance, it really could be a scam, or at worse malware!)

Luckily at that place are a couple of means that you can download YouTube video for complimentary with software that comes with your Mac. You don't need to download an app at all.

MacOS Mojave: Command + Shift + 5

  • Free
  • Get macOS Mojave here

macOS Mojave has its own in-built screen recording characteristic and since it's part of the macOS it'south free to apply.

This could be a solution for you if you don't demand the audio because information technology won't record the sound.

  1. Printing Command + Shift + 5.
  2. Click on Tape selected portion.
  3. Drag the crosshairs to select the video. Record YouTube
  4. Click Record.
  5. At present start playing the video.
  6. Await for it to finish and then terminate the video.
  7. Stop the screen recording (you'll find a stop button in the menu at the top of the screen or in the box as seen in the image beneath.)

Screen recording

QuickTime Player

  • Gratis with macOS

Before Apple merged the tools for screen recording with the screen grab tools in macOS Mojave Mac users could utilise QuickTime to record the screen on their Mac.

QuickTime can still exist used in this way - at least for now. Here's how.

  1. Open up QuickTIme Player (press Control + Infinite and outset typing QuickTime).
  2. Go to the menu at the top of the screen and cull File > New Screen Recording.
  3. A Screen Recording pop-upward window will appear. Before you motility to the side by side step click on the down arrow beside the red button and make sure that Internal Microphone is selected. QuickTime record YouTube
  4. Click on the red button.
  5. Now you will run across instructions indicating you lot can click to record the total screen, or drag to record part of the screen. Elevate the cross-hairs over the video. QuickTime recording Mac
  6. At present click on Record.
  7. Start the YouTube video playing (brand certain the sound is on).
  8. Once the YouTube video has played y'all can click on the cease button in the menu at the summit of the screen.
  9. The video will open up and so you can cheque it before saving information technology.

This is without a doubtfulness the all-time way to tape from YouTube on a Mac. All the same, a short video can take upwardly a lot of infinite on your Mac, and obviously it is necessary to wait while the whole video plays through.

How to download YouTube video

There are also some solutions on offer that will download the YouTube video for you, rather than you lot have to record the screen of your Mac while playing the video. This might be a preferred pick if you don't have the fourth dimension to sit down and expect for an hr of Peppa Pig to play.

As we said above, nosotros don't recommend the free solutions specially every bit there is already a costless solution on the Mac, and we're not sure how much we trust them.

iTubeDownloader

How to download YouTube videos to Mac: iTubeDownloader

  • $8.99 (about £7)
  • Become it here

iTubeDownloader charges a fee - it's $8.99 for the activation code, and students can get 35% off - only there'south a free trial that may be sufficient for your needs.

It looks like a browser, simply it automatically directs you to YouTube's home page. Y'all so scan the site as normal, except that there's now a big Download push button next to the URL bar. Tap this at whatsoever indicate to catch the video you're currently viewing (or the video whose URL y'all've pasted into the address bar).

We constitute it easy to utilize iTubeDownloader and the resultant download was of a good quality. (You get a selection of download quality settings, in fact.) The only downside, really, is that information technology isn't gratis beyond the terms of the trial.

Parallels ToolBox

  • £15.99/$19.99 a year, seven-24-hour interval trial
  • Download it here

On the ground that going with a well-known company ways you lot are more than likely non to cease up with at best bad software, at worse malware on your Mac, we'll expect at Parallels ToolBox.

Parallels (the people backside the software that makes it piece of cake to run Windows on your Mac) have come with 30 tools that tin can exist used to simplify a number of tasks on your Mac. ToolBox is the result of their experience manning a help desk for their customers running Parallels on a Mac. And then many customers phoned up request how to do various things that Parallels thought some easy to use tools might be a good solution. And and so Parallels Toolbox was built-in.

Parallels Tool Box record YouTube

  1. One time you have download and installed Parallels Toolbox you'll see a toolbox icon in the carte du jour at the superlative of your screen. Click on that.
  2. You'll see a number of tools including Airplane Mode, Free Retentivity, Do Non Disturb, Make Gif, and Download Video. Click on Download Video.
  3. Toolbox volition instruct you lot that y'all need to enable a Safari extension in order to download video. Click Enable.
  4. At present a Download Video box will open on your screen. Only copy and paste the URL from the YouTube video and paste information technology into the box, or drag and driblet it in. An arrow will point that the video is downloading and a box will pop upwards with the details, e.g. Downloading "Peppa Grunter.mp4" and you can watch every bit the download happens. Ours took nigh ten minutes to download 88MB - but note that speed volition be adamant by your connection. Downloading YouTube video Mac
  5. In one case the download has finished you volition find the video file in your Downloads folder (which might not be immediately obvious).

The file volition be saved as an MPEG-4 movie. It volition open and play in QuickTime on your Mac.

If you lot are looking for an easy way to become the video onto an iPad or iPhone 1 solution would be to copy the video onto iCloud so you can admission information technology from the Files app. You can then download it from there and play information technology whenever you want. We have more details nigh saving a YouTube video to an iPhone or iPad.