The easiest way to download YouTube videos on macOS

Through our technical website, we present to you the easiest ways to download YouTube videos on your Android device macOSAre you looking for a way to save a YouTube video to your Mac so you can watch it offline? You have more options than you think! This tutorial will teach you simple ways to download videos from YouTube to your Mac for free, whether you want to use a VLC player, online downloader, QuickTime app, or a video downloader app. Keep in mind that YouTube’s terms of service do not allow downloading videos without permission, and downloading copyrighted videos may be illegal in your area.

Download YouTube videos on macOS

Using VLC Media Player

Install VLC Media Player on your Mac. If you don’t already have this popular media player installed, you can download it now from https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html.
When you use this method, you will use VLC to find the exact streaming URL of the video you want to download, which will make you can download the video in Safari.
To install VLC Media Player:
Click the Download VLC button and save the DMG file to your Mac.
Double-click the downloaded DMG file in the Downloads folder.
Drag the VLC icon (the orange and white cone) to the Applications folder.

Copy the address of the YouTube video you want to download. If you haven’t already, bring up the video in your web browser now. To copy a URL, click on the address bar to highlight it, then press Command + C to copy it.
If the video is age restricted, VLC player may not work. If you can’t use VLC Player to download this video, try our online YouTube converter.

Open VLC player. You will find it in your Applications folder once it is installed.
You may have to provide permission to run the app for the first time.

Click on the File menu. This button is located in the upper left corner of the screen in the menu bar.

Click Open Network. This opens the “Open Source” window.

Click on the “URL” box and press ⌘ Command + V. This pastes the YouTube URL into the box.

Click the Open button. This button is in the lower-right side of the window. This adds the video to your VLC playlist.

Click on the window menu and select Media info. The Window menu is located in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Select the site’s URL and press ⌘ Command + C. The URL is located at the bottom of the window. This copies the URL to your clipboard.

Paste the copied URL into your browser and hit Return. The video will start playing in your browser.

Right-click the video in your browser and select Save Video As to save it. You can name the video anything you want.
Once the video is saved, it will start downloading from YouTube to the default download location. You can now double-click the video in the Downloads folder in the Finder to watch it in your default media player.

Download YouTube videos with an online converter

Open the YouTube video you want to download. You can use any web browser, including Safari or Chrome, to download a video using a free online downloader.

Copy the video address. Click the address bar to highlight the URL, then press Command + C to copy.

Go to You can open this site in the same browser tab or in a new tab. 9xBuddy is a free YouTube video downloader that makes it easy to download high-quality YouTube videos to your Mac. [4]
If 9xBuddy is not available, try using the site on one of its mirrors:
https://9xbuddy.com/
https://9xbuddy.in/
https://9xbuddy.org/ar-1av.
You can try some other online video downloaders:
https://loader.to
https://youtubemp4.site
https://flvto.pw
https://onlinevideoconverter.com/youtube-converter

Right-click the field and select Paste. This pastes the copied URL into the field.

Click the blue Download button. This scans the video and shows you different download options.

Click the “Video” button. Now you will only see the options to download videos instead of audio.
To see the video size before downloading, click Show size next to one of the file formats.
Quality options will vary depending on the actual video quality. Higher quality (eg 1080p) will result in a larger file to download.

Click Download Now next to the quality you want. The video will now download to your Mac’s default Downloads folder.
Once the download is complete, simply double-click the downloaded file in the Finder to open the video in the default video player.

Download YouTube videos with 4K Video Downloader

Install 4K Video Downloader on your Mac. This “Freemium” app allows you to download up to 30 YouTube videos per day at no cost. [5] This app has been around for a long time and does not come with any surface installs of software.
To download the app, go to and click Download next to “macOS 10.13 and later.”
Once the file is downloaded, double-click the downloaded file and follow the onscreen instructions to install.

Copy the address of the YouTube video you want to download. If you haven’t already, bring up the video in your favorite web browser now. To copy a URL, click on the address bar to highlight it, then press Command + C to copy it.

Click to paste the link in 4K Video Downloader. It’s the green and white plus sign in the upper-left corner of the window. The Download Clip window will appear.

Select the quality of the video you want to download. The default format of MP4 is suitable for most uses and works in almost all video players. Available download quality depends on the quality of the original video. You’ll see the estimated size for each quality option to the right of it.
If you want to choose a different format, click the Format menu and select an alternative.
The path under the download options tells you where to save the video on your Mac. If you want to save the video somewhere else, click Browse and choose another location.

Click the blue Download button. This downloads the selected video to your Mac. You can now double-click the video in the Finder to start watching.

Screen recording with QuickTime

Open the video you want to record on YouTube. Don’t play the video now—just put it on the screen until it’s ready.
This option isn’t the fastest, but it’s fine if you don’t want (or can’t) download any extra software.

Open QuickTime on your Mac. It’s a gray and blue “Q” icon on the Launchpad and in the Applications folder.

Click on the File menu. This button is located in the upper left corner of the screen in the menu bar.

Click New Screen Recording in the list. This opens the screen recording window.
Depending on which version of macOS you’re using, you may see a toolbar with several icons instead.
You can press ⇧ Shift + Command + 5 on your keyboard to get this toolbar as well. Here you can record full screen or selected part on Mac.

Select an internal microphone from the list. The menu is a downward-pointing arrow to the right of the red circle in the center of the window. This ensures that the app captures the audio of the video.
If you don’t see such a menu, click Options instead.

Click the red circle button. You’ll see some quick instructions on selecting an area of ​​the screen to record.

Drag the crosshairs to select the video. This tells QuickTime to capture only the video instead of the entire screen.

Click Record and start playing the video. If the sound is not on, make sure it is on now.

Click the stop recording icon when the video ends. It’s in the menu at the top of the screen and looks like a black circle with a white square inside it. QuickTime will stop recording your screen and display the final recording, which is also saved to your Movies folder.
If you want to trim the beginning and/or end of the recording, click the Edit menu and select Trim. You can then drag the yellow trim bar to select the part of the video you want to keep and click “Trim” to save the changes.