6 Best Ways To Download YouTube Videos And Playlists

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We all have enjoyed watching videos on YouTube. Some videos, we feel like watching over and over again. Unfortunately, in that case, YouTube does not provide any option to download the videos. So what do we do? Here I am going to talk about easy methods to download videos from YouTube on your computer. Moreover, we have also covered methods to download YouTube playlists.

Download YouTube Videos

1. Best Way To Download YouTube Videos Directly

You might have seen various ways of downloading YouTube videos on the internet. Some of them use software’s like YouTube Downloader, IDM and many others and some ask you to copy the URL and paste it to some website from where you will get download links, but you have to remember such sites to download YouTube videos. Below is the easiest, shortest and time-saving method to download YouTube videos.

In this method, you just have to alter the URL of the YouTube videos you want to download.

Below are the steps to download YouTube videos:

  1. In YouTube, open the video you want to download.
  2. You will see the URL of the video in the address bar at the top. Here you need to modify your video URL. You just have to enter “ss” in the URL. Suppose if the URL of the video is “www.youtube.com/abcdxyz” then you have to alter it to “www.ssyoutube.com/abcdxyz”.
  3. That’s it, it will automatically navigate you to a website where you can see the links to download that YouTube video.
  4. Here you can download the video with desired format and resolution. You will also get the option to download it as an audio file.

Did you know you can save YouTube videos using VLC player? Well, I am not kidding. It’s possible to do so and we will tell you exactly how.

2. Save YouTube Videos Using VLC Media Player

We all have a VLC media player in our desktop or Laptop. What does it do? The answer is simple – Play videos on your computer. But how many of you know that it can be used for downloading videos from YouTube.

Here I am going to teach you how to download videos from YouTube using your VLC player in few easy steps:

1. Open YouTube and click on the required video. Select the complete URL and press Ctrl + C.

2. Now open your VLC media player. Go to Media > Open Network Stream. Press Ctrl + V.  The copied URL will get pasted in the box under the label ‘Network Protocol’. Now click on the Play button.

how to download youtube videos

3. You can see your YouTube video being played in your VLC player. But you have not downloaded your video yet.

4. Go to Tools > Codec Information. There is a box with a label ‘Location’. Right click on the box and click on ‘Select All’. Then press Ctrl + C.

Download YouTube videos using VLC player

5. Open your browser and press Ctrl + V to paste the copied content in the address bar. Press Enter.

6. Your video will start playing in the browser. Right click on the video and select ‘Save video as…’ option. Name the video and click on ‘Save’. Your video will start getting downloaded.

Moving ahead let’s look at another alternative way.

3. Using YouTube downloader tool ‘FastestTube’: Chrome Extension

Next, I am going to teach you another way to download videos from YouTube – by using the YouTube downloader tool ‘FastestTube’.

1. Go to the URL ‘kwizzu.com’.

2. Click on the Install button in the bottom.

3. This would open up a dialogue box asking you to download a zip file. Click on the save button and download the zip file.

4. Extract the contents of the zip file to your computer or your phone. There will be four files in the zip file.

YouTube downloader tool FastestTube

5. Double click and launch the file ‘install.bat’. Click ‘Yes’ on the dialogue box that appears next to accept the administrative rights.

6. Click on the icon below the close button of your Google Chrome browser.

7. Select More Tools > Extensions.

Download YouTube videos using Chrome Plugin

8. Drag the ‘crx’ file extracted, to the Extensions page of your Google Chrome browser.

Installing FastestTube Chrome Extension to download YouTube videos

9. A dialogue box will appear asking you to confirm the addition of new extension “FastestTube”.  Click on the Add Extension button.

Add FastestTube extension

10. You can see “FastestTube” along with your other extensions in Google Chrome. Confirm that the ‘Enabled’ option is checked.

Enable FastestTube extension

11. Now, the next time when you open a video on YouTube, you will find a download option below the title of the video as seen in the image below. Click on that and choose the video format and quality from the options.

How to download YouTube videos with FastestTube

Now, what if you want to download YouTube playlists instead of individual videos? Well, we have got you covered.

4. On Android, Use a Tubemate-Like App

If you are on Android, you can use apps that are similar to Tubemate, an app that allows to download YouTube videos.

Download YouTube Playlist, All or Specific Videos on PC and Mac

I have mentioned two methods out of which one will include the YouTube playlist downloader online tools that can be used by Mac/PC users. The second method includes a free software which can be used by Windows users on their PC.

Method 1: Download YouTube Playlist Using Free Software

You can use this method if you are on Windows otherwise skip to the second method.

Actually, it is a freemium software by the name of 4K Video Downloader. The free features of the software are good enough to download YouTube videos from the playlists.

1. To get started, download the software from the following link.

2. Installation is as simple and easy as it can get. After the installation, launch it.

3. Now, open YouTube on the browser and go the channel page of the desired playlist and select the Playlists tab.

Under Playlists, click on the desired Playlist.

4.  Next, copy the Playlist URL from the address bar after selecting the playlist.

YouTube Playlist Downloader Online Free

5. Go back to the 4K Video Downloader software. Click on Paste Link at the top left corner followed by Download Playlist.

Download YouTube Playlist Videos on Windows

The software will automatically pick up the URL from the clipboard and start extracting videos from the Playlist URL.

If the number of videos in the playlist is more than 25  then you need to upgrade to premium version. For playlists with less than 25 videos, you shouldn’t have any issues with the free version.

6. Wait for the extraction and parsing to complete. After that, you will see a window with all the videos from the playlist listed. You can even uncheck videos if you want to download certain videos from YouTube playlist.

7. After selecting the videos, you can select if you only want the audio. This means you can use this tool to download YouTube videos as MP3 too.

Select the Quality and the location your PC to save the downloaded playlist videos.

Finally, click on Download.

Download Certain Videos From YouTube Playlist

Depending on the number of videos and your internet speed, the videos from the YouTube playlist will be downloaded to your PC at the selected location.

Let’s get to the second method.

Method 2: YouTube Playlist Downloader Free Online Tools

There are many online tools to download YouTube videos. On trying out a few of them, I found the following two tools best to download YouTube playlists.

Tool 1: Downvids.net 

1. Copy the URL of the desired YouTube playlist by going to the Channel Page of the playlist. On Channel page, select Playlists tab and click on the desired playlist. Now, copy the URL of the playlist from the address bar.

2. Next, Go to the following link.

3. Paste the YouTube playlist link in the text box and click on Download.

4. The tool will extract all the videos from the playlist and list them. You can simply click on Download as video button under each video to download them.

Download YouTube playlist on PC/Mac

Tool 2: YouTube Multi Downloader

1. The first step remains the same as tool 1(Copy the Playlist URL).

2. Go to YouTube Multi downloader playlist downloader tool by clicking here.

3. Paste YouTube playlist link in the text area next to Playlist Link and click Download. Actually, it extracted the videos without clicking on Download.

4. All the videos will be listed. You can click on MP4 702p button beside each video in order to download them.

Download YouTube playlist Online

We hope that these methods helped you to download YouTube playlists videos at once without having to download them manually one at a time.

RELATED ARTICLES

  1. How to view YouTube videos offline: You can watch your favorite videos even when you are not connected to the internet connection.
  2. Repeat Certain Parts Of YouTube Videos: If you want to watch the same YouTube video again and again, then read this article to know how to replay YouTube videos automatically.

Which method do you like the most? Let us know in the comments.

About The Author

  • Akshay Thapliyal

    Akshay Thapliyal is the co-founder of TechUntold and mainly looks into strategic planning at TechUntold. He also loves writing articles on apps & problems he faces related to tech. Follow him on Twitter.

Photo of author

Akshay Thapliyal

Akshay Thapliyal is the co-founder of TechUntold and mainly looks into strategic planning at TechUntold. He also loves writing articles on apps & problems he faces related to tech. Follow him on Twitter.

2 thoughts on “6 Best Ways To Download YouTube Videos And Playlists”

  1. Sharing one more way to download Youtube videos by putting “10” instead of “ss”
    i.e., “www.10youtube.com/abcdxyz”.
    Thanks!

    Reply

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