YouTube is everywhere. You come here to learn, listen to music, stare at cats, and so much more. But while YouTube is omnipresent, stable WiFi connection is not. Let’s find the best YouTube downloader to save videos for offline watching. Here are our top 12.
Now a Download Video box will open on your screen. Just copy and paste the URL from the YouTube video and paste it into the box, or drag and drop it in. An arrow will indicate that the video is. Apr 08, 2021 How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac? You’ll need a YouTube URL to get started. You can get one either from the address bar, or through 'Share' - 'Copy to. Learn how to download YouTube videos to your Android, iPhone, PC, or Mac with the 7 best free YouTube video downloaders in our list.
4k Video Downloader
Paste the link to a YouTube video and save it on your computer — as easy as that. 4K Video Downloader is a free video downloader with a starter plan that is limited to 30 downloads per day and lets you download one video at a time. But you can pay $12 to unlock more features.
Pros- Good for one-time use. If you need a YouTube downloader app for occasional use, 4K Video Downloader is as uncomplicated as one can imagine.
- 4K support. It’s all in the name — this YT downloader can get you a video in great quality, including 4K. That’s a big perk for a free video downloader!
- Download presets. Always downloading video in the same resolution? Enable Smart Mode and create presets that fit your flow.
- Speed limitations. 4K Video Downloader is slow compared to other downloaders. The free plan doesn’t support simultaneous downloads.
- Limited playlists. You can only download a playlist with up to 10 videos in it if you’re on a free plan. So if you want to download music playlists, it won’t work in most cases.
Elmedia Player
As the name suggests, Elmedia Player is not exactly a YouTube video downloader. It's a media player that lets you watch online videos on your Mac without ads. You don’t have to waste storage on downloads. And you get the video on your computer. For many, this is a win-win.
Pros- Variety of formats. Elmedia Player is a great tool to replace your default media player with, due to a huge number of audio and video formats supported.
- Ad-free video. Grab any link from YouTube, Playmotion, or Vimeo, and play it in Elmedia Player without ads.
- Stream via AirPlay. Take your video content to any big screen, right from the app.
- All-in-one package. While this sounds more like an advantage, a huge list of features might be overwhelming for beginners.
- Limited compatibility. This URL video downloader might not work with some older devices.
Downie
Download YouTube video without opening YouTube. Downie offers the best workflow we’ve seen so far — you can search for videos right in the app, typing your keywords in the built-in browser. Then, save the video on your Mac in a preferred quality and format.
Pros- Permute integration. You can convert your downloads to any format with Permute. If you install Downie via Setapp, you get access to both apps right away.
- Search. The search feature is genius. You don’t have to copy and paste any links. Nor do you stumble upon “can’t download this video” error — Downie’s search shows only the videos that are available for download.
- More than YouTube. Downie can download video and audio from 1200+ sites.
- No preview. You can’t preview the video in the app (before or after downloading).
- No trimming. There’s no possibility to extract part of the video.
Snaptube
Snaptube is a Chinese YouTube video downloader that is super popular on Android. The app is free to use and has a recommendation system — kind of like its own YouTube, suggesting channels and videos for you. So you can download videos as well as discover what else to download based on your history.
Pros- Unlimited downloads. You can download video and audio files of any size and quality, including TV shows, playlists, etc.
- 50+ websites. Snaptube works with YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and many other major platforms where you can download video.
- Bad reputation. In 2019, Snaptube was accused of secretly charging users for premium purchases and serving invisible ads to earn money.
- Poor experience. As our quick trial revealed, the app is glitchy and acting slow (especially with playlist downloads).
- Doesn’t work on Mac. The major downside is that you can’t download YouTube video with Snaptube on macOS.
Pulltube
This is the best YouTube video downloader and editor, in our opinion. Pulltube has every feature an average user will long for — one-click download, subtitles support, customizable format, audio extraction, and trimming mode. To download video, you should paste or drop the link in the app.
Pros- Trim video. No need to waste storage space by downloading a huge movie if you only need one scene. Trim video before downloading.
- Custom format. Extract audio or instantly convert to available video formats.
- Subtitles. You can either download a video with subtitles or get subtitles separately.
- UI imperfections. It’s not instantly obvious where the video is saved to, and you might spend a few minutes to figure out the buttons.
Folx
The fastest YouTube video saver is called Folx. It’s an app that splits your downloads into streams to accelerate the download process. And it works magically! Folx is a dedicated Mac app usually used to download movies and torrent files.
Pros- Unrivaled speed. Downloads can run in up to 20 parallel streams, which gives you a huge speed boost compared to other tools.
- Safe torrent downloader. Instead of searching through suspicious torrent websites, use Folx’s built-in search and downloader.
- Download music. Folx is very handy in terms of saving music playlists from YouTube. It’s quick and supports batch downloads.
Cons- UI imperfections. Although Folx has pretty good filters, it misses batch options — for example, the button for clearing the downloads list.
- Easy to abuse. Folx is safe to use, but some people might use it for illegal torrenting, which is prohibited by the service’s Terms of Use.
AnyTrans
With AnyTrans YouTube downloader, you get an extra benefit — AnyTrans file transferrer. Use AnyTrans to move files across devices and/or download videos from 900+ websites. If you miss iTunes, AnyTrans will soothe your pain, because it essentially has the same capabilities.
Pros- One app, many use cases. Sync files between devices, back up data, move photos from an iPhone you’re planning to sell to a Mac, or download videos.
- iOS and Android. Depending on your device, you can get AnyTrans for iOS or AnyTrans for Android.
- Audio download and custom quality. Choose your preferred format before downloading.
- Lots of options in the UI. To a beginner, AnyTrans will seem overwhelming at first.
- iTunes library trouble. If your Mac runs on macOS with iTunes, you might have trouble syncing your iTunes library with AnyTrans.
Y2mate.com
Looking for YouTube video download online? KeepVid is a popular online solution that bundles together a video and audio downloader, editor, and converter. Plus, it’s versatile when it comes to platforms — you can download Instagram videos, YouTube content, even Netflix movies.
Pros- Free online tool. There’s no limitation on how many videos you can download in a day. Just paste the link and get the video on your Mac.
- Audio extraction. Before downloading, you can modify resolution or choose to download audio only.
- Malware threat. Free downloaders like Y2mate get monetized through ads. Some of those might contain malicious files.
- No video editor. You can’t trim your video or do any advanced editing work.
KeepVid
Another YouTube downloader app you can access online is called Y2mate. There’s no dedicated app unfortunately, but as long as you’re careful and don’t click any pop ups on the website, Y2mate can do the job for you. Still, we recommend it as a one-time solution.
Pros- Quick access. Online YouTube video download tools are convenient because you can just paste the link on the website and get the video. No app installations.
- Pick quality and format. Before downloading, specify quality and file format. You can also extract audio from video.
- Legal issues. It says on the website you can use the tool to get content from Netflix and Apple Music, which is prohibited by these services’ Terms of Use.
- Ads and malware threat. When you try downloading anything from the website, malicious pop ups might show up. Be careful with what you’re clicking.
YT Cutter
Sometimes, you don’t want to rip video from YouTube. You just need a small part of it. YT Cutter is a stellar online service for downloading scenes from YouTube videos. Paste the link, choose the scene, and hit the download button. There are also options to save a scene as GIF, audio, or just extract a screenshot from the video.
Pros- Unique cutting feature. Not all YT video downloaders have good trimming tools, not to mention the precision with which YT Cutter solves the task.
- Preview available. Before downloading the scene, you can preview it on the website.
- Poor format customization. It says on the website you can use the tool to get content from Netflix and Apple Music, which is prohibited by these services’ Terms of Use.
- Glitchy. We’ve tried to download some videos and YT Cutter responded with the “temporarily unavailable” error a few times.
Airy
Airy is a YouTube video downloader from the creators of Folx, Eltima Software. By the way, if you work with media files a lot, we recommend checking out Eltima’s products, they are top quality and many of them are on Setapp. We love Airy’s clean UI and ease of use — just paste the URL, pick resolution, and download your video from YouTube.
Pros- Download playlists. Airy gives you an easy way to download a range of videos or music playlists from YouTube.
- One-click solution. The app is beginner-friendly and super easy to use.
- Price. Unlike its mate, Folx, which is available with Setapp membership, Airy costs $19.95.
- YouTube only. Most YT video downloaders for Mac we’ve mentioned before work with all popular video sites. Airy is limited to YouTube.
aTube Catcher
Not every video can be downloaded, no matter how advanced your downloader is. aTube Catcher tries to fix this problem by combining a video downloader with a screen recorder. This way, you can capture a video if it’s impossible to download it. Note that the app only works on Windows.
Pros- Free. Even though some features are locked, you can use the downloader and screen recorder for free.
- Batch formatting. Download, process, and convert multiple videos and playlists super fast.
- Windows only. You can’t install aTube Catcher on Mac, so if you’re looking for a tool that works on macOS, look into Setapp, it has screen recorders too.
While choosing the best free YouTube downloader, focus on your priorities. Do you need a tool with the most extensive file format support? Is 4K quality important? Do you listen to YouTube music a lot? Do you want to be able to batch download files? Truth be told, most of the reviewed URL YT video downloaders don't have it all. However, you can try many of them for the price of one with Setapp, a curated collection of 200+ apps. Or, if you want a free YouTube downloader, try Setapp for 7 days free — it gives you access to Folx, Downie, AnyTrans, and Elmedia Player so you can figure out which one works best for you.
YouTube video downloaders FAQ
What’s the best video downloader? To answer this question, let’s go through a quick FAQ to help you set priorities and make the right decision.
How to use YouTube downloader?
The most common way is “copy and paste the link.” Some tools also offer browser extensions that let you capture videos while you’re browsing the web. Advanced video downloader apps often come with a built-in browser, so you can search for videos right in the app.
Is YouTube downloader legal?
Sure. Most apps with video download features, such as Folx and Pulltube, are safe, it all depends on how you choose to use them. However, there are some safety concerns involved when it comes to online downloaders. They’ve been proven to contain ads that could be infected with malware, so by downloading a video, you might accidentally download a malicious file on your computer.
What is the best YouTube downloader?
Some people argue that the quality of a downloader is determined by its speed and how well it handles different video formats. For sure, these features are important, but we’d say the essential thing is safety. Choose dedicated apps over online services to avoid malware threats. Mac users can additionally rely on CleanMyMac X malware scanner just to be sure they’re safe.
Which is the best YouTube video downloader?
There’s no one-size-fits-all. Someone needs a hyper-fast tool like Folx to download movies. Someone wants an app like Pulltube or YT Cutter to be able to trim videos. We suggest you don’t limit yourself and install Setapp, a productivity suite for Mac and iPhone users. Setapp has Folx, AnyTrans, Downie, Pulltube, and many other reliable apps to choose from.
Where to download YouTube downloader?
Download and install Setapp. This way, you never have to download apps again. Whether you need a YouTube downloader app, a media converter, or a screen recorder, Setapp has lots of tried-and-tested options. Just type the keyword in search and Setapp will suggest the best apps to solve your tasks. Install and uninstall, save to favorites, and connect the apps together to improve your workflow.
If you are a Windows user, choosing a YouTube video downloader is easy, but it is a different story for Mac users. And therefore, we will present 15 best YouTube video downloader for Mac that are compatible with all Mac platforms, such as Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, EI Capitan & Yosemite etc., and there are more than 15 of them in the market.
Here is the list of 15 best YouTube video downloaderthat work on all Mac platforms in 2021.
- 1. Gihosoft TubeGet for Mac
- 2. MacX YouTube Downloader
- 3. Airy
- 4. ClipGrab
- 5. MediaHuman YouTube Downloader
- 6. 5KPlayer
- 7. Apowersoft
- 8. Wondershare AllMyTube
- 9. iTube Studio for Mac
- 10. Total Video Downloader
- 11. YTD
- 12. Downie
- 13. SConverter.com
- 14. Softorino YouTube Converter 2
- 15. 4K Video Downloader for Mac
1. Gihosoft TubeGet for Mac
If you are looking the best way to download YouTube videos on a MacBook, then you can resort to Gihosoft TubeGet, a YouTube video downloader for Mac & Windows. It allows users to download multiple videos or a whole playlist from YouTube at once even if the clips are lengthy. The tool has no trouble saving HD & UHD quality videos and it doesn’t hog much system resources.
Gihosoft TubeGet also offers the capability to download 48/60fps videos from YouTube, which is a boon for the game and sports lover. Well, to the language learner, Gihosoft TubeGet develops the feature to grab the closed caption, local subtitle, auto-generated subtitle & auto-translated subtitle are all supported.
2. MacX YouTube Downloader
If you are a Mac user, no matter MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, no matter Mac OS X, OS X, macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 10.16, and have a strong desire to download YouTube videos, MacX YouTube downloader for Mac is a nice choice. MacX helps to save videos from Facebook, Dailymotion, Vevo, Vimeo and multiple popular video hosting websites.
MacX YouTube downloader free full version supports to download YouTube videos in whatever resolution that YouTube provides, such as 720P, 1080P, 2K, 4K & 8K etc., and keep them in MP4 or WebM format. Integrated with an easy-to-use interface and advanced technology, MacX YouTube Downloader makes it the ultimate choice for you to download popular videos & musics at a fast speed with minimal quality loss.
3. Airy
Unlike other video downloader that listed in this article, Airy only works with YouTube, perhaps the developers know that concentration is the key to success. Airy offers the feature to download full HD 1080P, 4K & 8K Ultra HD videos from YouTube conveniently. You also get options on video formats, e.g. MP4, WebM, FLV, OGG & 3GP etc.. If you want to save soundtracks in MP3 format, and not keep the whole music video, Airy can perfectly finish this work, and it can even download the album art for you.
Airy also has the capability to save the entire playlist or channel from YouTube. Another big advantage about Airy is that it even lets you pause a download, and resume download the YouTube video right from where you suspended it, which is a perfect design if you are not on your computer all the time.
4. ClipGrab
Another Mac version YouTube video downloader added to this list is ClipGrab. ClipGrab is a completely free software which makes a living by donations, free as it’s, its video downloading feature doesn’t lose out to any competitor. ClipGrab allows you to search your videos directly through the address bar by keywords without opening YouTube, that’s quite time-saving.
When it comes to downloading YouTube videos, ClipGrab provides a super easy way to do that. Just copy and paste the link into the address box, it will show all the possible resolutions. You just click the “Grab this clip!” button, it will save the videos offline on the desktop of your MacBook or iMac.
5. MediaHuman YouTube Downloader
This Mac software can help you download videos from YouTube and many other similar video sharing websites like VKontakte, SoundCloud & Vevo etc.. What we love about this YouTube download app for Mac desktop is that it has so many practical features, such as simultaneous download, downloading HD & UHD videos such as 1080P, 2K, 4K & 8K, and the ability to download entire YouTube playlist & channel at a time.
Just like other YouTube downloader for Mac, MediaHuman also gives you options if you want to download the video or extract the audio track alone. This is a boon for people who enjoy music, it also can provide the original audio without quality loss. MediaHuman has many advanced features, you can find it in the preference setting, such as preventing from sleep while downloading, ignoring 30+ fps videos, using format priority list etc..
6. 5KPlayer
How can we download YouTube videos on MacBook in resolution up to 1080P, 2K, 4K or even 8K? Well, desktop packages can help you with that. Although these desktop software are not cross-platform, but they are more powerful in functions than online downloader on Safari. Downloading HD & UDH videos for those tools is just easy as pie. The best part of these software is that they can batch download all the videos on a playlist at one time, and grab the subtitles as well.
For YouTube download software on Mac, 5KPlayer is one of the best. This app works flawlessly on Mac system to download videos and movies in MP4, WebM, MKV, 3GP depending on your preferences. It also supports video resolutions from 360P, 720P, 1080P to 4K & 8K, which means it will allow you to download really high-resolution videos. This is perfect for those who want to download clear long videos, such as full feature films and documentaries.
7. Apowersoft
Perhaps what is great about this app is that it lets you convert videos to other file formats suitable for devices like iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, PSP, Kindle Fire, and other mobile devices. This Mac video downloader understands that some of us do not just watch videos on our computers, but also on other portable devices. But not just that, it also helps you download high-resolution videos outside of YouTube. You can also use this app to download videos from Twitter, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Facebook.
As a bonus feature, this easy-to-use app will even allow you to download YouTube playlist to your Mac. Not satisfied with the only downloading function, Apowersoft also integrates itself with screen record and video conversion section, now it becomes an one-stop tool. With Apowersoft in hand, one can easily download online videos from YouTube, record game videos, and convert videos taken by camera to more popular formats so that users can easily edit and upload them to YouTube.
8. Wondershare AllMyTube
Wondershare AllMyTube is a pretty popular app, probably one of the most used YouTube video downloader for Mac. Supporting many popular sites, AllMyTube can also convert videos to other formats or to music files, grab whole playlists and handle batch downloads all at once. It’s a shareware so you get limited functions, the free version can only allow users to download 2 videos, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The design of AllMyTube is very intuitive, it has 4 parts: downloading, downloaded, converted & WiFi transfer. When you finish downloading your YouTube videos, you can convert them to other formats and send them to your phones directly by scanning the QR code. As a senior specialist for YouTube, AllMyTube supports download age-restricted YouTube videos, just input the login password, you can unblock the restriction.
9.iTube Studio for Mac
To save videos from YouTube on your Mac devices (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac or Mac mini), we have another alternative for you – iTube Studio for Mac.
The best thing about this app is that it’s integrated with many useful functions, such as video downloading, recording, converting & transferring, totally an all-in-one tool. Equipped with a private mode, now you can use it to download videos in secret. As a professional video recorder, iTube allows you to record videos from Netflix, Hulu, iTunes & BBC iPlayer etc.. So if a video site is prohibited from downloading, you can just record them, nice design.
10. Total Video Downloader
There are multiple applications which you can utilize to save YouTube videos on your MacBook Air or Pro successfully, and Total Video Downloader is one of the best and fastest. This app is designed to download any video uploaded on the Internet, and it works exactly well for what it’s designed for.
This app offers an interface that looks like a web browser, so users can have easy access to many hot videos on YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo and Lynda. However, if this app is in running for one of the top apps to use when downloading videos, it will fall behind when it comes to format conversion. But that’s not a big deal, you can use other apps to convert videos instead. However, when it comes to downloading videos, this app is highly recommended.
11. YTD
Youtube App Download For Mac
Although we have talked about many desktop software that work smoothly on MacBook, I’d like to add another one to this list – YTD. YTD is also a popular app which we hear a lot. Users can easily navigate through this app and get on with their download without the challenge of getting familiar with the interface.
YTD lets you download videos just like other YouTube downloaders, but with an added bonus feature of allowing you to convert videos to different formats & cut the videos to your preferred length. What we love about this downloader is that it’s one of the most handy apps. It is very simple, and thus very easy to use.
12. Downie
Downie is video downloader for YouTube & many other video sites that works only on Mac operating system, and it requires macOS 10.11+, including Big Sur, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, EI Capitan. Like many other competitors, Downie supports many video hosting sites, including YouTube, Youku, Bilibili, Vimeo & SoundCloud etc., and the number is rapidly growing. It can grab HD videos up to 4K, and convert videos into MP4 or MP3 so you can play them on your iTunes.
Downie is multilingual, and it updates about once a week with new features, bug fixes, and new sites supported. What it attracts me is that the software can group the video file by site and playlist, so that all the downloads can be sorted into folders based on where you downloaded them from or from which playlist they are.
13. SConverter.com
When the topic of downloading YouTube videos on a MacBook comes up, usually there are 2 ways to do this. One is to install a full version program, just like the software I have mentioned above, or you can use an online video downloader, and SConverter.com is a good recommendation.
To make downloading YouTube videos as simple as possible, SConverter.com requires you to do nothing more than paste a link and hit ‘Download’ button. The downside of these sites is that they can only download videos from YouTube with the resolution up to 720P, while can’t do anything for the 1080P & higher resolution videos, such as 2K, 4K & 8K, let alone 60fps videos. But if you just want to download a single clip & save time, then an online YouTube downloader is ideal.
14. Softorino YouTube Converter 2
YouTube itself has no passage in downloading videos directly, on both desktop and mobile. However, sometimes you have your reasons to do this, especially when you are on trains, subways, buses, or trips to places without reliable 4G or WiFi. That being said, with a right YouTube video downloader in hand, grabbing videos from YouTube is a surprisingly easy thing, and it doesn’t require a high configuration laptop.
Softorino YouTube Converter 2 is a fast video download for Mac which can fully satisfy your needs without any complications. This tool allows you to download video from YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, BandCamp, VK, LiveLeak, and many more. Apart from that, you can also download the content as video, audio, or even create them as ringtone. Integrated with an automatic Wi-Fi feature, now you can transfer downloaded media to other devices such as iPhone, iPod or iTunes at a fast speed without USB cable.
Download Youtube Videos Mac Website
15. 4K Video Downloader for Mac
For those who want to download & keep videos from YouTube on their Apple computer, 4K Video Downloader for Mac has always been a good and reliable option. This desktop app for Mac covers many popular sites, such as YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Dailymotion and Metacafe, and it doesn’t have any snag in saving videos offline.
The developers of this tool pay great attention to simplicity and usability, you can download your favorite videos in the precise format or resolution you need, and has no hassle in downloading multiple videos in batch simultaneously. All in all, 4K Video Downloader for Mac is a good video downloading solution and it does what is promises without any complications.
In Conclusion
When you finish reading this article, you will have clear thought about how to download YouTube videos on a Mac computer. And now I’d like to hear from you: What’s your #1 YouTube video downloader for MacBook? If you have personally been using any app that is powerful, don’t be shy and type in your recommendations in the comments section below.